


LOVE won't SAVE you now

by lmshady



Series: LOVE won't SAVE you now [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Brotherly Bonding, Chara is going to have a bad time, Female Frisk, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Macro/Micro, Ultra!Sans, Violence, bluemagic!Sans, genocide start - pacifist'ish end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-26 11:10:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 47,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6236347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmshady/pseuds/lmshady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sans has had enough of Chara having her own way for so long, now is the time to fight back!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Megalovania

**Author's Note:**

> So I’ve finally gotten up the nerve, and courage, to post my very first Undertale fic. It’s been a long time since I’ve done any actual writing and it hasn’t been beta’d, just proof-read by me, but I hope it will come off as enjoyable to read as it was to write! Enjoy!
> 
> Also spoiler warnings as this starts out in the Genocide run and moves on from there.
> 
> This fic was heavily inspired off of this fan made video of Ultra Sans, found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arvDV2JGE8s
> 
> Which inevitably led to me drawing a picture of my own idea of Ultra Sans, picture here https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-NTf8lmK8d4w/VqMTlY2joUI/AAAAAAAAAlE/rvtnuR6cdt4puBjpRrgTc7yIzK5NfUPNQ/w654-h646-no/UltraSans2.png
> 
> Which then led me to write out this story!

The soft dripping of liquid hitting the floor accompanied by the laboured breathing of Sans as he leaned up against a pillar was the only sound to be heard in the Hall of Judgement. After the fatal blow, he had stumbled back against the stone with a boney hand held over the gash in his coat and shirt, something red dripping from his mouth, nose and right eye.

 

And Chara couldn't have been more proud of herself, grinning manically. Another time line, another merciless killing spree! Well almost, there were still a few left to taste her blade but she waited for now. It always took longer for harder monsters to die, usually getting in a few mundane words in before turning to dust. Undyne was obnoxious for that but Sans was by far the worst, taking the longest to just disappear.

 

“...so, guess that's it, huh?”

 

' _ Yes yes, that's it, now die already! We've done this song and dance so many times, why even bother with the theatrics? _ ' Chara sighed loudly, rolling her eyes and turning them down as she played with her knife. She was practically lip-syncing the skeleton's words with how many times she's heard it. ' _ Just get it over with!! _ '

 

“.....”

 

She looked up when he hadn't mentioned anything about Grillby's and getting something for Papyrus, noticing the lights in his eyes were gone and his head turned towards the entrance. A glance over showed nothing but turning back... he was staring right back at her.

 

“...heh.”

 

Well... this was new. Chara couldn't help cocking a brow.

 

“Heh heh heh... Y'know what? No, you've played out this game for far too long. Mercy, no mercy...” Sans held up both hands, the one stained red moving as he spoke those last words before clenching it into a fist, “No more...”

 

“T h i s  e n d s  h e r e. . .”

 

The room suddenly began to shake violently, nearly sending Chara to the battle scarred flooring as she staggered about to get her footing. Once stable, she turned to scowl deeply towards the short skeleton, already annoyed that she had to deal with him once more after winning the long and arduous fight. Whatever, she had defeated him a thousand times over by now, this would just be another one in the bag.

 

Sans cyan eye finally started to glow through the darkness in his sockets, but she wasn't impressed. The first time, maybe, it had been intimidating but it was nothing ne-? The usually empty socket of his other eye began to glow much like the other, only this one was red. Blood red. 

 

' _ T-this was nothing new! Undyne had transformed before and so had Mettaton. So what if some short skeleton could do the same?! _ ' Chara sneered, readying her bloodied knife for another round. ' _ He would probably be just as cowardly as before, do nothing but dodge around. No sweat. _ '

 

The room continued its violent trembling with Sans barely affected by it all, not even when the entire wall behind him exploded outwards, dragging with it a few crumbling pillars. But instead of the warm golden light to greet them on the other side it was a massive void of pure darkness, pulling in more of the room. Even Sans was being slowly pulled in, his gaze never leaving hers with that ridiculous grin still on his face right up until he's lifted off the ground and dragged in.

 

Chara had to admit that this was new... Very new as she held her ground, expecting to be pulled into the gaping maw of darkness much like the other had been... It didn't happen though, the rooms' shaking ebbing away to tremors then nothing at all.

 

The new silence was unsettling, just some sort of void of nothingness and her opponent missing. Had he ended himself? Was this some sort of trick? An elaborate yet obnoxious lead up to some sort of lame pun?

 

She scoffed, slowly inching her way over to the edge of the abyss with knife at ready. Her stance tense and unsure as she hesitantly looked over the ledge. There was nothing, just more inky darkness. Fury quickly overtook her thought as she snarled.

 

' _ He ran away! That son of a-!? Wait, something was coming... Something white..? And fast approaching! _ '

 

There was barely enough time to get out of the way before a massive skeletal hand was grasping at the edge, the force of impact knocking Chara to her rear. Just in time for an equally large hand to come up opposite of the first followed by a massively familiar grinning skull. Of course that stupid coat, if black now, would still be hanging off him, though looking a little worse for wear from the change. Spikes protruding from his shoulders down to halfway up his biceps would do that. His shirt didn't seem to have been spared, showing off rows of ribs and what was usually the fatal killing blow carved into bone. Though where had the cracks in his skull of come from? 

 

“ **R E A D Y ?** ” Sans taunted, voice deep, booming and filled with the purest of hatred.

 

Scrambling to her feet, Chara grasped her knife in both hands while widening her stance, hiding the fact that the knife was shaking subtly as sweat beaded at her brow. She swallowed dryly, staring up into the empty eyes of the monstrous skeleton awaiting her next move. Hesitantly, she reached over to check her ACT only to flinch when that red eye came glowing back into place and fixed its gaze on her, or so she thought. When she moved her hand, attention still on Sans, his eye shifted minutely to follow while she choose her option, looking away from him to see what all could be done.

 

Check, Cry, Insult... Piss pants? Considering the circumstances, it was a viable option but she wouldn't give the other the satisfaction even with her hand hovered over said option, only to tense up. Sans, or what used to be him, was making a strange rumbling sound in the depths of his ribs followed by huffs of air out of what constituted as his nose.

 

Was he getting impatient? Chara wasn't so sure, eyes narrowing as she hovered over each option slowly; going from check, to cry, to insult, to finally piss pants again. This seemed to get the same sound once more and it was then that she realized that cretin was laughing! Chuckling as it were but that meant...

 

“ **F I G U R E D  I T  O U T ?** ” Sans rumbled, still chuckling as his red eye flashed.

 

' _ That little cheater! _ ' Chara grit her teeth tight as she slammed a fist into the check option, maybe there would be some sort of clue to beating... ' _ Ultra Sans? Real original... _ ' She huffed with annoyance, reading over what little was displayed to her.

 

Health unknown as well as strength, of course... And the rest was blank, helpfu- no wait? There was text coming up, red text,

 

'Dirty brother killers are going to have a bad time if they keep coming back... N O  M E R C Y.'

 

She raised a brow at that, figuring it to be the damned skeleton's doing but didn't dwell on it long as movement out of her peripherals had her lunging to her left. Narrowly missing the massive fist slamming right through the floor where she had just been, nothing left but a hole as that hand retracted back to its owner. Guess that was his turn...

 

Sans certainly wasn't playing around, not that he had been before but this... This was definitely serious.

 

Getting up to her feet again, Chara brushed off invisible dust from her form while defiantly glaring up at her opponent. She had always hated that stupid grin that never left his face at least until he was defeated and whining about his brother. Though this grin was much more manic, which she would have liked if it wasn't being directed at her. Either way, it was time to FIGHT!

 

Knife poised and ready, she charged forward with deadly intent and a sadistic grin that had most monsters running long before she would even encounter them. Sans was still Sans, he probably still only had one health and was just hiding it in this form, meaning he was more than likely to dodge-!?

 

Her knife connected with a satisfying swish, right in the same spot that had struck down the skeleton time and time again. She couldn't help her grin growing wider with her successful hit, bounding back a step to see the damage only to nearly drop her weapon.

 

One...and his health bar barely even moved.

 

There was no time to gape at the absurdity of the situation as she was suddenly caught up in Sans' left fist, feeling the life squeezed right out of her with unrelenting strength. There was no mercy, not like the few times Sans would pull his punches. Likely holding out hope there was still good inside. It had always been his downfall... Now though, there was none of it here. Just her soul crushed to dust, and the last vision of both a cyan and red eye staring straight through her.

 

Game over.

 

Yes yes, determination, don't give up. WHATEVER! RETRY!

 

Oh good, back in the Halls of Judgement with its warm golden glow and pristine architecture. It looked like all of her food items were back too, great. Another round with shrimpy Sans again then she would be out of this wretched place.

 

Chara couldn't help shivering though, that last instance was a lot more terrifying than she had thought. She had actually been... scared.

 

' _ Ridiculous, _ ' she thought, brushing off the feeling as she turned to walk down the hallway. So long as she could reset, death was merely an inconvenience. It didn't even phase her anymore with how many times she had perished, losing all feeling of fear... at least until today.

 

Another shiver ran up her spine but she pressed on, getting to that magical point when Sans would appear before her. Always the same; something about LOVE and EXP, dirty brother killer, going to hell, etc.

 

But as she walked on, there was no sign of Sans and she was getting to the point where the end of the hallway was coming up. Odd... Stopping in her tracks, she turned to look back the way that she had came, expecting something...anything at all but was greeted to nothing.

 

Something was wrong...

 

The hairs on the back of her neck rose when she noticed the light filtering in at the beginning of the long hall was blacked out. The window next to it soon darkened and the one that was dark before began to shine light through it once more though that darkness was still moving, blotting out each window along the way until it stopped at the one in front of her.

 

Every instinct in her body told her to move and she heeded the call, running back the way she had came just as the window and surrounding wall exploded. Debris and rubble rained around her as she got some distance before whirling around, squinting to see through the cloud of dust that slowly settled. Her eyes gradually growing wide to the shape and mass that had not only gone through the window and wall but to the opposite side as well. No doubt about it... That was an arm with a black sleeve slightly pulled up to show off massive bones.

 

Chara could feel more than just her sins crawling on her back now...

 

The arm pulled back a little ways, enough for the skeletal hand to be freed before it hooked around to make another attempt at grabbing her up only to miss again and pull the wall back with it. To her horror, the void was still there along with Sans.

 

“ **S U R P R I S E D ?** ” The skeleton chuckled darkly, “ **N O  M E R C Y. . .** ”

 

Balling his hands together, Sans raised his arms up and over his head before bringing them down on Chara with deadly force, narrowly missing her once again as his arms went straight through the floor. No mercy was right, once he got his arms freed they were right back to taking swipes at her, leaving no time to even do anything for herself but dodge. Oh how the tides have turned...

 

“ **N O  E S C A P E. .** .”

 

There was a good chance that somewhere in that massive abomination known as Sans was still the skeleton that got tired after enough fighting. Maybe she could wait it out until then, then figure out how to deal with him. Unfortunately the crumbling hallway taking the brunt of the dodged attacks was slowly falling away, leaving little area to manoeuvre before finding herself on a platform surrounded by the void. Nothing but a pillar at her back and maybe a foot of flooring for her to stand on.

 

Panting for breath, Chara waited for the final blow to come and end her once again but it seemed that Sans had other ideas, leaning in to the decimated hallway until his skull was level with her. Both eyes glowing and trained on her, waiting. Was it her turn now? Gee, thanks...

 

Glaring daggers at the monster before her, she hesitantly reached up to pick an option with her free hand. The knife somehow still in her hold after all that. She hovered over the FIGHT option, sorely tempted to get a jab at that smug face but the quick little flicker of that red eye said she would have been dead before ever getting the chance. MERCY... This time that cyan eye flickered, another warning. She wouldn't have picked that option anyways, not after the first time getting dunked on by regular Sans.

 

That left ITEM and ACT as her last two choices, if she even really had one to begin with but surprisingly through all the tumbling about she hadn't been scathed. Was he trying to get her to do something? Reading over the options again for ACT, she scowled darkly at remembering that one option * Piss pants. She whipped up her head to give the skeleton the most hate filled scowl she could muster, only getting another, if much louder, chuckle. This time feeling the huffs of hot air coming from his nose hole to go along with the shaking of his wide, spiky shoulders.

 

So that was how he wanted to play it... One last laugh before death... Or would he continue to toy with her? Either way, Chara had to make her choice, even if it was one that she was being lead to. So with a deep inhale, she slowly reached for the hated option with eyes locked on to Sans right up until mashing the option below. Insult.

 

“ _ Papyrus' armour looked stupid! His spaghetti tasted like cardboard and puke! He'll never, ever, ever get into the Royal Guard no matter how hard he tries because he was too soft!! And who would want to admire and befriend that obnoxious waste of SPACE!! _ ” She shouted out loud, panting harshly afterwards.

 

Silence filled the area after the last echoing of her insults died down with Sans staring at her with an unreadable expression. Only for his eyes to darken for a moment as he moved away. If she couldn't hurt him physically there was always the mentally route as she grinned at her small victory. One that was short lived as the skeleton raised up both hands, looking as though he would crush her between them but only held them out. The reasoning for it soon becoming obvious as a familiar crackling sound emitted from the palms before two red lasers were fired.

 

GAME OVER.

 

...retry?

 

Coming back again, it was like the last two instances never happened. Everything was back to normal, or so Chara would have liked to think. Sans had followed her back before... Apparently nothing was stopping him from doing it again.

 

There really wasn't as a skeletal hand came bursting through the doorway right behind her, snatching her into a tight fist that was rammed into the opposite wall. It jostled her to the bones, voicing out a pained gasp to the impact before they were moving again. Not through the hole though, instead the hand was taking her on a fast forward trip down the corridor as Sans forearm powered through the pillars and windows like they were made of paper. Stopping halfway in and flinging Chara into the wall at the other end with force, at least this was familiar. Though Sans didn't really need to use his glowing cyan eye to throw her around, not anymore.

 

She groaned while flopping off the wall crater she made to the floor with a thump. That had been more than half her health... If Sans had wanted too, he could have just went the whole way and smashed her into the wall like a fly. Another one hit kill. She knew what was going on, it was something she liked to do with the weaker monsters, play around with them like a cat to a mouse only now it seemed to be her turn as she shakily got to her feet.

 

This was a losing battle. There was no way to overcome this obstacle, Sans had grown far too powerful and if things kept going the way they were she would be in for nothing but pain and misery for the rest of her existence. Unless...

 

The rest of the wall was quickly done away with to give the massive monster his view, though she doubted he really needed it with the way he had grabbed her up through a stone wall. Maybe he just wanted to witness her suffering face to face.

 

Best not to keep the other waiting as she hobbled along the path back with an arm wrapped about her waist and only stopping to stand before Sans. His brow raised to her determination.

 

“ **H E H. . .** ” It was more of an exhale than a chuckle as he pulled back his fist.

 

Chara fell to her knees, knife clattering to her side as she began to cry. Her hands going up to her eyes to staunch the flow of tears while loudly sobbing, “S-Sans...”

 

The massive skeleton gave pause to this, unmoving as his gaze fell upon the distraught little girl. Had he broken her already? Did she finally realize just how futile her efforts were? He didn't seem convinced, getting down low enough with his skull tilted to get a better look at the other.

 

Looming over, she looked up into the others eyes with a tear stained face filled with fear and more tears soon dripping down her cheeks. Her little hands going back to cover her eyes as she bowed her head and whimpered.

 

“Frisk...”

 

There was no doubting that change in tone, Sans facial features softening back to normal with a less sinister smile plastered on his face and those dots of light back in his eye sockets.

 

“Hey, it's alright... I didn't mean to scare...you.” He sounded torn, unsure.

 

Her head lifted at that, teary eyes looking sadly up at the skeleton as she sniffled. One hand moved to drop to her knee while the other continued to try and wipe away the tears from her face. It seemed ineffective with her palm already wet with the salty water before she moved to use her sleeve instead.

 

“Heh... Sorry kiddo.”

 

Sans leaned in closer, not enough to be incredibly imposing while he used a hand to reach out to the tiny human. Intentions of comfort in mind that quickly turned to alarm. The world seemed to move in slow motion as he caught the wicked smile on Chara's lips followed by her reaching for her knife. His own expression changed, hardening into a sneer as the hand meant for comfort started to crackle. It was little too late by then as her knife was hurled at his face, going right through his cyan eye and into his skull.

 

The roar he emitted was deafening as his hand flew up to the afflicted area, the one charged to attack firing wildly into the hallway and just barely dodged by the human child. Who was quick to go dashing down the hallway towards her save point at full tilt while Sans furiously shook his head to dislodge the knife from his skull, which only seemed to rattle it about.

 

Making it to her destination, Chara grabbed on to the glowy yellow star with both hands and quickly worked to begin a full reset. Her eyes darting now and then to Sans for how much time she had to get it done. Only to pale when the third time looking up was met with a blood red eye honed in on her, followed by that huge body coming in for the kill.

 

“Reset reset reset!!” She shouted at the star, punching it for good measure before phasing out. Just in time as a skeletal hand descended on her position, getting nothing but a handful of stone. His thunderous roar the last thing she would hear as she was transported back to the beginning.

 

Where they found themselves lying in a small patch of yellow flowers.

 

“. _..Frisk, you take over for a bit... _ ”

 

\--------------------

 

“NOOOOOO!!!” Sans howled, smashing up the hall in his frustration. Chara's knife still rattling about in his skull as he stormed the area until nothing stood before him. His efforts coming to an end when there was nothing left to destroy and the rattling in him stopped, leaving his fists clenched tight at his sides as he heaved out out deep breaths.

 

“I failed... I've failed them all...” He brought a hand up to his cyan eye, covering it as his shoulders began to tremble. His other hand clenching tight around the rubble still in hand but something in there felt...warm?

 

Bringing his hand up, he opened his palm to gaze down at the mess with his red eye, seeing nothing other than stone fragments but still feeling that warmth. The other hand pulled away from his face so both red and cyan could peer into the rubble, only to finally see something yellow peeking out. He nudged away the stone to find a pretty little yellow star glowing faintly in his hand.

  
“This is...” A sinister smile returned to his cracked face.


	2. Bonetrousle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slight warning for almost vore, more warnings to come in the future.

Frisk exited the Ruins with hands clasped together in front of her chest, staring out into the snowy forest she had been through hundreds of times before. Chara had been unusually quiet the entire journey through the Ruins and with Toriel, usually making little quips about the goat lady but had said nothing after they came back. It made her think that something bad must of happened during her turn... Chara never let Frisk see what was happening but could somehow see what she was doing during her pacifist runs.

 

It was an odd link between the two since Frisk could feel Chara's presence over her shoulder or usually behind her, right now it felt like she was hiding behind her back. This making her feel uneasy about going through with this journey, much as she loved befriending everyone over and over again.

 

She just wished this could all end with her happy side to the story...

 

Breathing in, Frisk exhaled a puff of frozen air out before starting through the woods. It was a pretty long and uncomfortably quiet walk as she stepped over a branch and continued on. Her unease grew when nothing else seemed to happen, nothing to signal a certain short skeleton following her, just silence...

 

Before she knew it, she was standing at the bridge but wasn't stopped. There was a hesitant glance over her shoulder to see if Sans smiling face was there... 

 

But nobody came.

 

What had Chara done to Sans? Was this why she was so quiet? Hiding? Had she done something to Sans that somehow changed everything?

 

“Chara? Where's Sans?” She asked softly but got no response in return.

 

Swallowing dryly, Frisk crossed the bridge to the other side in hopes of maybe seeing Sans sitting at his Guard Post, drinking ketchup. But her heart sank, he wasn't there either. Just that lamp and his post...

 

Where was Sans? The always smiling, pun pelting, quirky little skeleton who knew all the shortcuts to getting around..?

 

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, a presence in the area making itself known behind her. Maybe Sans was just fashionably late? He did seem to know a little about the whole resetting and saving situation. Though the massive shadow overtaking her tiny form told her this was not the case... Something else was behind her and she was almost too scared to turn around to see who, or what, it was.

 

Everything could be taken care of with a little kindness and determination, but turning around to this...She could of sworn her heart stopped beating for a second.

 

“S-Sans..?”

 

What happened to him? Why was he so big? Was he bleeding? What happened to his skull and where had that scar across his sternum and along his ribs come from..?

 

What had Chara done?

 

There was a faint whimper behind Frisk and it was now plain as day as to why the other was so scared now, not that she wasn't either. With black empty sockets more than likely staring her down, that smile stretched further than what she was used to, and that his expression seemed a bit pinched. It was a look Undyne would get now and then when she was frustrated with something... Was Sans frustrated? Possibly angry?

 

She took a slow step back with a light crunch of snow under her shoe, intimidated by the size and mass jutting out of the chasm. Apparently that had been the wrong move as a blood red eye flashed in Sans right socket right before he struck. His right skeletal hand striking out to snatch Frisk off her feet and bringing her up into the air, the action so fast she barely had time to scream. Not that she could now, not with her being brought up to that sinister glowing eye that seemed to stare into her soul.

 

“ **C h a r a. . .** ”

 

That had Frisk's attention. How did Sans know about Chara?

 

“I know you're in there, hiding behind Frisk.” That red eye flashed and shimmered, not even looking at Frisk anymore but through her, “But we weren't finished...”

 

Finished? Finished with what? What was going on!? Frisk trembled in Sans' hold, tears already pricking the corner of her eyes with fear and confusion as she was lifted up higher.

 

“Do you remember what I had said before? No mercy... No escape... **O N L Y  D E A T H.** ” His eye darkened back to nothing as his mouth began to open. Something the little human didn't think possible after all the times she had spent with the skeleton but there it was. A black empty void surrounded by a white toothed mouth, she didn't even know he had such sharp looking fangs! But the weirdest and worst part of it all had to be the large blue tongue to come phasing into existence, glowing faintly and slightly see through. Like a ghost...

 

It wasn't until the hand around her began to open that she realized what was going on, letting out a small shriek as she was dropped a little ways only to be caught up by the back of her thick sweater. The thumb and forefinger of Sans' phalanges dangling her above his open mouth tauntingly, dragging this out far longer than needed. So she started to struggle, twisting around and about in his hold to grab at the bones holding her as her tears of fear began to flow.

 

' _ Frisk, FRISK! Calm down! You've died before, this won't be any different than any other time! We'll just come back! There's always our last save! _ ' Chara shouted at Frisk from behind her shoulder, only slightly alleviating the situation at hand but it was still pretty darn scary!

 

“You mean this?” Sans asked, both eyes now active as he holds up something yellow pinched in the fingers of his other hand. It was a save point! One that was suddenly shattered and turned to nothing but glittery dust, leaving the two to stare in wide eyed horror.

 

Screwed didn't even begin to describe their situation. Which was currently Sans about to eat them.

 

Hopeless as it was, Frisk's determination kicked into overdrive as she struggled all the harder to twist around and get a hold of Sans' finger, grabbing on to his index with both hands. That soon turned to arms wrapping it up in a death grip as she heaved out a scared little sob.

 

“C'mon Frisk... don't make this any harder than it has to be...Just...”

 

She found herself being shaken in an effort to jostle her off the bone, to which she tightened her hold and stubbornly stayed on. Her sweater was soon let go, leaving her to hang on by her own means of strength. At least until she felt the back of her sweater being pulled in the other direction by Sans' other hand, a few testing tugs used before she was all but ripped away to, again, dangle in front of the skeleton. At least his mouth was closed but the two annoyed looking eyes glowering at her wasn't much better. His patience obviously wearing thin.

 

“Just let it happen, Fr-!”

 

“SANS!!” A loud and boisterous voice called out, stopping the mega sized skeleton in his tracks as those huge eyes widened. “SANS! YOU REALLY NEED TO RECALIBRATE YOUR-”

 

Papyrus stopped just at the edge of the area, eyes wide to the scene before him. Which made for a very awkward moment of the two staring at each other, both looking completely shocked. At least looking over at Sans again, he seems to have reverted back to his normal face along with the dots of white lights returning to his eyes that looked about ready to cry.

 

“P-Papyrus..?”

 

“SANS...” The, once, taller skeleton took a few steps forward. One gloved hand to his chest while the other was hesitantly stretched out. “SANS... IS... IS THAT... IS THAT A HUMAN?!”

 

Frisk and Sans exchanged a glance at each other. The small human shrugging at the absurdity of Papyrus' question.

 

“Uh... Yeah bro... It sure is.”

 

“OH WOWIE, SANS YOU DID IT! YOU CAPTURED A HUMAN!! NOW WE CAN TAKE IT TO UNDYNE AND I WILL- I AM GOING TO BE- SO POPULAR! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!” Papyrus chortled, practically wiggling in place with excitement.

 

“O-okay..?”

 

“GOOD, NOW LET US TAKE OUR HUMAN HOSTAGE TO OUR PLACE UNTIL I CAN GET A HOLD OF UNDYNE! SURELY I’LL BE LET INTO THE ROYAL GUARD THEN!”

 

“Heh heh... Yeah, that would be great bro, just like you.”

 

Striking a confident pose, Papyrus chortled some more, “NYEH HEH! BUT OF COURSE, FOR I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NOW LET US HEAD BACK AND- WAIT A SECOND!”

 

Sans froze up when the other skeleton started to give him a once over from top to bottom with eyes narrowed, swallowing down the lump in his nonexistent throat. Sweat soon gathering on his brow the longer Papyrus stared at him before shooting and arm out to point at him.

 

“SANS, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HEAD!?”

 

“I... Uh... Fell down some stairs?”

 

“AND THAT STUFF ALL OVER YOUR FACE?!”

 

“It's... ketchup?” Using his free hand, Sans used the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe away the mess.

 

“HMMMMM...” Papyrus seemed to squint harder at Sans before letting up, “ALRIGHT BUT YOU REALLY NEED TO BE MORE CAREFUL! YOU ARE LUCKY I KNOW SOME HEALING MAGIC, I SHALL USE IT ONCE WE GET HOME!”

 

“Heh... Sounds good to me, uh, why don't you go on ahead? I can take the human back myself.”

 

“ARE YOU SURE? THE HUMAN MIGHT BE DANGEROUS!”

 

“Oh, I know but I'm pretty sure I've got this bro.” Sans winked.

 

“WELL... IF YOU ARE CERTAIN. I'LL SEE YOU BACK HOME!” Papyrus waved the other off before heading back down the road, a bounce in his step as he rushed back to Snowdin.

 

“Later...” Sans waved back before his hand dropped to his side, attention soon turned on Frisk. Who was still quietly dangling with a slight back and forth motion, curling in once she noticed his attention on her. He glared at her for a long moment, growling deeply in his chest as he slowly stated,

 

“This doesn't change anything...”

 

Shifting the small human back into a fist rather than let dangle, he moved to pull himself out of the chasm with little effort as he rose to the height of the tree line while stuffing his free hand into his jacket pocket. Almost looking back to normal if not for the tired frown on his face as he took in his surroundings with a heavy sigh, eyes lingering on the small outpost.

 

“...Let's go.”

 

And without further warning, they were sent through a darkened void of a tunnel that ended with them coming out right in front of the Skeleton Brothers house. Frisk had almost forgotten that Sans could do that, 'short cuts' as he would call it, leaving her feeling a little squeamish after the journey through...nothing. Though looking up, it didn't seem as though the skeleton had fared so well either as he clutched at his skull with a grunt. It worried her to see him like this even if he was being mean to her, it was still Sans. Big Sans. Big, scary, I-was-gonna-eat-you Sans...

 

She was just about to open her mouth to ask when those lights for eyes turned to look down at her, effectively making her shut her mouth and raise up her shoulders to her ears. At least they didn't linger long, turning to look over at the shed Papyrus usually used to set up for any humans to be captured then the house itself. Drifting back and forth between the two, he seemed to sigh out with some annoyance as he removed his hand from his head to flick his finger towards the house, somehow opening the front window. The fist she was currently trapped in descended down towards the window, along with Sans kneeling to reach, before his hand opened slightly, followed but a deep command to 'Get in'. Which was heeded as she crawled her way in through the window before Sans tried to stuff her in himself, landing on the green couch with a slight bounce.

 

“Don't even think of trying to escape.” Came Sans' voice before the window was closed, leaving her to sit quietly on the couch. She jumped in surprise a moment later when the house began to shake, rhythmic rumbling that suggested a certain someone was moving from the front of the house to the back. The last, if biggest tremor, nearly sending her off the sofa before settling down altogether.

 

Well... Guess there was only one thing left to do. A quick dig around in the cushions and Frisk turned on the T.V. to watch The Mettaton Show.

 

It was a half hour yet before a certain loud and proud skeleton came walking up to the house, key in hand to get in and a bag in the other. Papyrus' mood still just as chipper as before.

 

“SANS, I AM HOME! I STOPPED BY THE STORE TO PICK UP SOMETHING SPECIAL FOR DINNER TONIGHT, TO CELEBRATE!” He called out, only to get no response. Odd... A soft clattering in the kitchen had him raising a bony brow as he walked that way, expecting to see his lazy brother in there.

 

“GAH! SAAAANS! THE HUMAN IS IN THE HOUSE!! AND IT IS EATING MY LEFTOVER SPAGHETTI!! Papyrus cried out in alarm, that soon changed to excitement, “WAIT, DO YOU LIKE IT? IS MY SPAGHETTI GOOD!? TELL ME HUMAN!!”

 

Frisk sat at the table staring at the tall skeleton with a few noodles hanging out of her mouth before throwing a thumbs up in his direction. Which sent him to swooning as he cupped his faintly orange dusted cheeks.

 

“I KNEW IT! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AM THE GREATEST COOK! NYEH HEH HEH HEH!” He chortled, entering the kitchen the rest of the way to place down his bag, “THAT WAS BUT A TASTE OF GREATNESS THOUGH, JUST YOU WAIT UNTIL I COOK UP A FRESH BATCH FOR DINNER TONIGHT, HUMAN!”

 

Slurping up her noodles, Frisk clapped excitedly for this special dinner, knowing for a fact that it was just going to be more Papyrus grade spaghetti. Not that it was a bad thing, just could use some work but trying to tell something like that to the tall skeleton was hard. Sure, he was a great listener and took everything to heart but breaking that heart was the last thing anyone wanted to do. It was just easier to let him think he was doing good with his smile being the best and most infectious thing in the world.

 

“JUDGING BY THAT SMILE, HUMAN... I WOULD SAY YOU WANTED TO HELP! WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP THE GREAT PAPYRUS MAKE DINNER TONIGHT?” Receiving a nod, Papyrus seemed to smile all the wider, “WONDERFUL! BUT FIRST, AS THE HOST OF THIS HOUSE, I SHALL TAKE YOU ON A GRAND TOUR! COME HUMAN, DISHES CAN WAIT!”

  
  


The grand tour consisted of the kitchen, living room and Papyrus' room, which was already seen and done by Frisk but she smiled anyways, enjoying the skeleton's enthusiasm. Giggling as he yelled for Sans to PICK UP HIS SOCKS along the way to his room, finding it to be same as always. With that race car bed, action figures to the side, bookshelf, computer and... window behind the computer showing a large spiked shoulder.

 

Frisk was glad Papyrus was busily playing away with his toys to notice her freeze up on the spot as she quickly shuffled away from the window to take in the detailed little figures. Only glancing over her shoulder now and then towards the window. At least Chara was quiet... It was probably the only good thing about this new Sans.

 

After playing around in the tallest skeleton's room there were chores and then dinner done up by the two of them. Though it left Papyrus annoyed that Sans hadn't even come out of his room to help at all, because that's where he was... Not looming behind the house and somehow making sure she wouldn't leave. By the end of the day, the couch was converted into a bed for Frisk to sleep on with a pillow and a some blankets for warmth.

 

“GOOD NIGHT, HUMAN! I SHALL CALL UNDYNE IN THE MORNING ABOUT YOU!”

 

She waved back, forcing a smile to the promise of bringing the scary fish lady before settling down for some rest. It had been a very long and weird day...

 

\------------------------

 

That made two of them, Sans sitting cross-legged behind the house with shoulders slumped and cyan eye tiredly staring at the wall. More like through the wall as it honed in on Frisk's shape, making certain that neither her or somehow Chara left the house. Mostly Chara though, she was the only one he didn't want escaping his eye.

 

“SANS?”

 

Flinching, his eyes flickered, fumbling to go back to their neutral points of white light before turning them on to Papyrus. Guess with being so occupied with staring at Frisk he hadn't even noticed the other sneak up on him.

 

“Uh, y-yeah?”

 

“WHY ARE YOU HIDING BEHIND THE HOUSE?” Papyrus' voice was soft, softer than usual, filled with concern, “I CAN'T HEAL YOU IF I CAN'T FIND YOU...”

 

“Sorry bro... I just found this really comfortable spot to sit and haven't really felt like moving.”

 

“HONESTLY SANS, YOU WOULD FIND COMFORT SITTING ON FIRE... WELL, LET US GET TO HEALING YOUR SKULL. COME HERE.” He beckoned for Sans to come closer to him with his hands out and waving him in.

 

The monstrous skeleton could only stare down at Papyrus a moment before awkwardly moving to lay on his stomach, curling his arms in front of his face and heaving out a tired sigh. It was the lowest he could go without somehow sinking into the ground.

 

“This good?”

 

“YES, YES, THAT IS GOOD, JUST TILT YOUR SKULL A LITTLE TOWARDS ME.”

 

That done, Papyrus moved to place his red gloved hands over the worst of the cracks long his skull with a soft glow of healing green magic, moving along the fracture lines until they were back to smooth bone. It was nice, soothing and relaxing Sans to the point where his eyes were beginning to droop closed. Least until Papyrus' voice broke the calm.

 

“SANS... ARE YOU FEELING ALRIGHT? YOU... YOU HAVEN'T SAID ANYTHING 'PUNNY' ALL DAY.” This had Sans staring at Papyrus in surprise, the other holding back a few nyeh heh's before his expression changed to outrage, “SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!? NOW I AM TELLING PUNS TO MAKE UP FOR YOUR LACK THERE OF!”

 

Chuckling softly, if slightly strained, Sans quietly replied, “S-sorry bro... It's...been a long day and I really didn't want to ruin your good mood by  **ribbin** ’ ya.”

 

That got a groan, not a very loud one but considering the lack of torturous puns it would seem Papyrus was going to let it slide. Since he brought it up in the first place.

 

“ALRIGHT... MUCH AS I APPRECIATE YOUR SELF CONTROL, IT JUST WORRIES ME WHEN YOU GROW SO QUIET AND DISTANT....” Papyrus' hands fell sadly to his sides once he had finished up, Sans' skull looking good as new.

 

“I know... I'm sorry Paps.” Freeing up a hand, Sans pulled his brother into a hug against his cheek, smiling when he could feel Papyrus' long arms trying to hug back. Though after a moment, the other pulled away with narrowed eyes once more, making him sweat a little under the gaze.

 

“SANS... I THINK YOU NEED TO START LAYING OFF GRILLBY'S! I CAN BARELY GET MY ARMS AROUND YOU!”

 

That set him off, roaring with laughter into his arm so he didn't wake up the entire town. Much to Papyrus' displeasure.

 

“I’M SERIOUS, SANS! YOU DO NOT DO ANYTHING ALL DAY AND EAT THAT… GREASE! IT IS UNHEALTHY! YOU ARE GETTING FAT!”

 

Laughing harder only seemed to annoy the other more, so Sans did his best to wrap up his amused chuckles with a wheeze and deep breath of air as he finally surfaced from his arm with tears pricking the corner of his eyes. He needed that, he really did, even with Papyrus looking so displeased with him.

 

“Okay, okay. I'll start exercising more and eat less of Grillby's, starting tomorrow alright?” He said while moving to push himself up on his elbows, shifting to get back into a seated position. Only for his eyes to widen and head to whip down at Papyrus running a gloved hand over his chest scar.

 

“SANS... I CANNOT SEEM TO HEAL THIS ONE...AND IT IS VERY DEEP...”

 

“I- I know it is... I've had it for... A very long time, it's already healed over...”

 

“WHY DIDN’T YOU ASK ME TO HEAL IT?”

 

Sans could only stare down at Papyrus with a pained look in his eyes. “H-hey, it's getting late. Don't you need to be getting up early to go see Undyne for more training tomorrow?”

 

“OH! THAT’S RIGHT, I SHOULD BE OFF TO BED AND SO SHOULD YOU! IT'S A BIG DAY TOMORROW AND I WANT TO SEE YOU RESTED FOR ONCE! SO DON'T STAY OUT HERE ALL NIGHT!”

 

“I'll...try not too. G'night bro.” Sans waved Papyrus off, waiting for the other to enter the house before settling down on his stomach with his head back on his arms. Cyan eye glowing once more and relieved to find Frisk still on the couch, only for him to dim his eyes then close them while burying his face in his arms. The starting tears in the corners of his eyes flowing freely.


	3. Snowy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just some fun in the snow for Frisk.

It had snowed the night before, such was obvious out the window of the house with a fresh, fluffy white layer of snow covering the ground with only the tracks of Papyrus leaving in the morning for Undyne's place. The rest was perfectly good untouched fun time snow and Frisk wanted in on it.

 

“Frisk...” A deep voice warned, making her pull her hand away from the doorknob in surprise.

 

She had forgotten all about Sans... Or almost would have if not for the ever imposing presence somehow watching her. Pouting, she walked to the couch to take a seat and turned on the television to try to watch the show. Keyword try as she couldn't keep still, changing positions numerous times before sitting up on her knees to look out the window. So much sticky snow...

 

Frowning, she turned around in her seat with arms folded, staring at the TV then the wall behind it. There was no window in the kitchen while Papyrus' room held the only other one she had seen and the door to his room was closed, so how had Sans known?

 

After a near five minutes of sitting, Frisk turned off the TV and stood up, walking to the door but didn't open it. Tilting her head, she looked over her shoulder at the wall curiously then moved a hand up with one finger out to touch the knob. Nothing happened. Humming, she turned back to look over the door then the doorknob to see about some sort of security system set up, again nothing but when she put her full hand around the doorknob again.

 

“Frisk...” Sans' voice again, if sounding slightly amused. “Stay in the house.”

 

She didn't want to stay in the house, watching TV was already boring and there wasn't anything else to do inside! Outside had snow and fresh air and freedom! She didn't want to be cooped up all day, she wanted to go outside and play!

 

So with determination set in her brow, Frisk pulled open the door and took a step out before closing it behind her and bounding off, giggling away as she kicked at a pile of snow. She ran around the front of the house for the most part, frolicking about without a care in the world. Not even when Sans had shifted his way around the side of the house, still on his stomach with head in his arms and slightly glaring at the disobedient human child.

 

She would pause now and then to look over at Sans, curious as to whether he would try to get her to go back in or not before returning to her snowball rolling with her sweater sleeves over her hands. Each time, his glare would soften until it was back to normal but his mood was still hard to read with him covering his mouth with his arms.

 

It was a good half hour or so of playtime when she noticed the skeleton's attention was not on her as much; looking lost in thought now and then , sometimes holding his head, and those lights for eyes would look down or flicker in and out. He still checked on her but the pauses in between were getting longer and longer. This leaving her to come up with a little bit of mischief as she waited for him to turn his attention away, lying in wait to strike! With a snowball.

 

“Huh..?” Sans' eyes flickered up at his head where a little round ball of melted snow was sliding down between his eyes. He idly wiped away the melting mess while looking up at the house, figuring that to be what hit him only to have another one hit him in the teeth. “What the...”

 

It wasn't until he heard giggling that he seemed to clue into what was going on, looking at Frisk who was holding a snowball in one hand and a surplus of more under her arm. Ready for battle.

 

“Frisk... I'm not- really in the mood- to have a snowball- fight- with- you...” Each pause in his words came after a snowball smacked into his face, stalling his statement as he sighed afterwards and didn't even bother with brushing away the snow. Though each tossed ball of snow had the human inching closer and closer, easily in arms length but silently goading Sans into playing with her.

 

The plan didn't seem to work though, the large skeleton just staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face while the snow on him melted away. It made the smile on her face disappear turning sad as the snowballs left in her hands were quietly dropped while she turned to leave. Guess this really wasn't the fun loving skeleton she used to know.

 

“So...” She stopped, turning around to look at Sans as he shook off the last of the snow from his face, “You looking for a bad time, kid?”

 

Tilting her head curiously, Frisk wasn't certain the tone behind the question asked though a certain someone behind her seemed to tense up at the question, as if scared? Was something bad really going to happen?

 

Sans raised up his left hand, the bones having returned to a much less sinister appearance than before when they were long and spidery. He held it in the air for a moment, drawing out some tension before it shifted to the side and lightly tapped against the house with his knuckles.

 

Suddenly Frisk found herself with snow from the roof being dumped on her head, making her shriek in surprise before frantically trying to get it off with a flail of her arms. Only to stop when she could hear a rumbling chuckle coming from Sans, sounding so familiar and happy but retaliation was at hand! Gathering up a quick snowball from the ground and throwing it as hard as she could, this one unfortunately landing dead center in an eye socket.

 

“Nngh!” Sans grunted, hand going up to his eye then quickly burying his face in his arm as he shuddered. But Frisk was right there, up close and worried she had hurt the other by accident. Not even flinching away when the skeleton looked up with his good eye, the light in it seemingly dilating to focus on her with how close she was. “..Heh, talk about a brain freeze.”

 

Her worried expression changed as she laughed at his pun, but there was still a small hint of worry left after she was finished. Certainly feeling bad for causing the other some discomfort.

 

“Hey, don't sweat it kid. I've had worse things go in my eye than a snowball, it'll just melt and that'll be the end of it.” He reassured, pulling his hand away from his eye socket. “See? Nothing but a weird feeling, so uh... don't go throwing anything else in there. Got it?”

 

Frisk nodded in understanding right before wrapping tiny arms as far around Sans face as she could, hugging tight as well as leaching some heat. Giggling a little when the skeleton made a confused sound, like he hadn't expected such affection after what had happened the other day.

 

This was nice, he seemed to state with body language alone after a few tense moments. His eyes softening and hand gingerly coming in hug her back but didn't make it...

 

' _That's right, Frisk. Don't go throwing anything into that pissant's eye hole...like a knife_.' Chara spoke up with malevolence, almost coming out from her little hiding spot at the small of Frisk's back to say it. If not for the burning red eye suddenly boring into her.

 

“ **G e t  b a c k  i n  t h e  h o u s e. . .** ”

 

Frisk's entire frame froze up to that intense stare and less than happy order, reminded of when they went to that fancy restaurant and Sans had told her of his promise to Toriel. It had her shivering fearfully as she disengaged from the hug, noticing the hand that would have hugged her back was now balled up tight. He was more than mad and it made her quick to scamper off to the front of the house, getting in quickly and shutting the door just as swiftly behind her.

 

It was Chara that Sans was mad at, not her, but still seeing that anger directed at her was scary...

 

She shivered though it wasn't with fear, her clothing soaking wet and chilling her to the bone even with the warmth of the house. Guess it had been a good time to go in anyways as she set to removing her shoes and socks, giggling a little on whether Papyrus would tell her to put her socks away like he did with Sans. Next came the sweater, which was much harder with the sleeves up to her elbows heavy with water, getting the material off a struggle before it was tossed to the side with her shoes and socks. Her shorts were fine though.

 

That done, Frisk all but dove into the closest blanket and bundled herself up into it until nothing but her face peeked out. Giggling as she snuggled for warmth, chasing away the chill in her limbs. Soon as she was dry, she sat up and looked around the house.

 

There were plenty of Sans' socks laying around, maybe he wouldn't mind her borrowing a pair until hers were dry. Not that he could wear them now... Unless he put one on each toe. The idea alone had her smiling as she picked up two socks and slipped them on, already feeling much warmer even if the socks were a little big on her. Now for a shirt... A look up at the rooms and she figured Papyrus might have something since the only thing he wore was his battle body, he had to have had something before then.

 

So with the blanket wrapped tightly around her, Frisk made her way up the stairs and was just about to open the door when a small click grabbed her attention. It had come from down the hall to Sans' room but usually that room was locked? Or so she had thought as the door slowly creaked open. Curiosity peaked, she wandered over and lightly pushed the door open enough to get a better look inside.

 

Wow... was that a self sustaining tornado of trash?

 

She shouldn't have been too surprised with how often Papyrus got after Sans for being lazy and messy, his room was a disaster... Though stepping in, she spotted a black shirt laid out on Sans bed and upon closer inspection it had a graphic design of a tuxedo on the front. Classy. Just about to put it on, she noticed another shirt poking out of the drawer of the dresser off to the side and couldn't help the curiosity to overtake her as she wandered over and pulled it out.

 

This one said 'Bone Zone' in skeletal lettering.

 

“Don't wear that one...”

 

' _Wow, not only does he watch you run around the house half naked he also has a raunchy taste in shirts. What a perrrrrrv_ .' Chara spoke up, apparently growing more bold. At least until Frisk asked what the shirt meant only to get a sputtered, ' _G-go ask the perv_!'

 

Chara disappeared after that, going quiet once again.

 

“Sans...” Frisk started, only to be cut off.

 

“I'll tell you when you're older, just go wear the other shirt...” The skeleton sighed, sounding like he had a headache coming on.

 

She shook her head, “Can you really see me?”

 

“I can see your outline...” That explained how he was able to see her when she wanted to leave.

 

“Your soul...” She looked down at her chest, usually where her heart shaped soul would come out.

 

“ **A n d  C h a r a...** ”

 

That last one had her tensing up, she had thought Chara was all in her head but Sans could see her? Hear her..? And for some reason had a very deep loathing for her… She would ask Chara about it but doubted there would be any kind of explanation, the other was mysterious that way.

 

Frisk stood for a moment longer before shaking out of her thoughts, looking down at the shirt in her hand once more then quickly throwing it on. Too cold to really go for the other one now with her blanket slightly damp from her drying off with it. At least the shirt was nice, kind of big on her frame but really cozy, much to the annoyed groan she could hear coming from outside the window.

 

A sudden slam from the front door soon caught her attention, followed by silence then loud yelling,

 

“SAAANS!! THE HUMAN MELTED!! ALL THAT’S LEFT IS ITS SHOES, SOCKS AND SWEATER!! I AM A TERRIBLE GUARD!!!”

 

Hearing a sigh from outside, the window suddenly opened up by Frisk, bringing in some chill from outside and Sans’ voice,

 

“Relax bro. The human is in my room, she needed a change of clothing after playing around outside and we had to… **address** some rules.”

 

“ARGH! THAT PUN WAS TERRIBLE!!”

 

“I can hear you smiling.”

 

“SAAAANS!!”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“PICK UP YOUR SOCKS!!!”

 

“Heh heh, okay.”

 

There was loud stomping towards the kitchen after that, Papyrus more than likely off to warm up some leftovers and settle down after a day of training. Which was just an overhyped cooking class.

 

“Hey, kid. Go keep Papyrus company for me. I’ve got some things that need to be worked out.”

 

Sans didn’t even wait for a reply as the window closed and his looming shadow fell over the room, startling Frisk into scampering out the door. Which was closed behind her and locked up. She had expected more tremors from the skeleton walking around but nothing, thankfully, came, meaning the other had teleported away.

 

‘ _Now’s our chance to run!_ ’ Chara chimed in as they moved down the stairs, ‘ _While both these idiots are preoccupied, we’ll just hide out in the caves of Waterfall! Fatty will never be able to get to us in there. C’mon! It’s foo- wait, the door is that way! Hey! HEY!_ ’

 

Ignoring Chara, Frisk walked into the kitchen with a big smile on her face, happy to see Papyrus back if looking a little sour. That quickly changing when he sees her coming up to him.

 

“HUMAN! GLAD TO SEE THAT YOU HADN’T MELTED AWAY! IS THAT ONE OF SANS’ SHIRTS?” Papyrus leaned in, reading over the words on the front. Eyes narrowing. “THAT BETTER NOT BE SOME SORT OF PUN THAT I’M NOT GETTING… ANYWAYS, WOULD YOU LIKE SOME LEFTOVERS TOO? SOMETHING TO ENJOY WHILE WATCHING THE METTATON SHOW?”

 

“Mhm!”

 

“GOOD! YOU MUST BE HUNGRY AFTER ALL THAT PLAYING, I SAW YOUR HALF FINISHED SNOWMAN. WE’LL HAVE TO FINISH HIM LATER.” He pulled out two containers of cold spaghetti, grabbing up some forks and handing one off to Frisk before they departed to the living room. “AHH, WHAT A DAY HUMAN. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND UNDYNE- OH NO! I FORGOT TO TELL HER ABOUT YOU!! WAIT, I KNOW, I’LL JUST GIVE HER A QUICK CALL!”

 

Pulling out a phone, the tall skeleton worked on pulling up his contact list before feeling a tug on his red scarf. “HM? WHAT IS IT HUMAN?”

 

Frisk was nearly beaming as she held up her own phone to show to Papyrus, getting a gasp from the other, “HUMAN! YOU HAVE A PHONE AS WELL!? LET US EXCHANGE NUMBERS!”

 

It didn’t take her very long to get Papyrus’ number on her cellphone, keying in the numbers then showing it to the skeleton to be sure it was right. Papyrus on the other hand was having issues, mostly with the gloves he was wearing messing up his typing before triumphantly getting Frisk on his phone. Lovingly nicknamed HUMAN.

 

“PERFECT! NOW… WHAT WERE WE DOING?” He asked, looking to the human child. Who motioned to the spaghetti still sitting in their laps and then at the TV. “RIGHT! LUNCH AND ENTERTAINMENT! THEN FINISHING UP THAT SNOWMAN!”

 

Nodding eagerly, Frisk was quick to stuff her face with messy spaghetti as the television was turned on. The skeleton oblivious to the fact that he had been tricked out of calling Undyne, for now. It was bound to happen sooner or later, the fish lady would know soon enough…

 

\-------------------------

 

Wandering well outside the boundaries of Snowdin and into the forest, Sans had no target place in mind to go to while he walked about, trying his best to lose himself in thought. Or would be if not for the small bouts of pain to plague his skull now and again as he placed a hand over the area.

 

He had to figure out a new plan… The old plan had been blown out of the water by his- this world’s Papyrus. The old plan was easy… Follow Chara, kill Chara, end cycle… Now it was pretend to be someone he was and wasn’t at the same time while trying to stay frigid towards Frisk. Things were getting far too complicated, it all would have come to an end if Frisk’s determination hadn’t slowed him down… or his own guilt.

 

But what if he had succeeded? What then? Still trapped in the Undergound in a world that wasn’t even his own? He hadn’t thought this through… He let vengeance rear its ugly head and for what? His world was gone and he didn’t belong in this one, not like this…

 

What was the new plan then? Keep Frisk, and in turn Chara, prisoner until they died of old age? Until Undyne figured out they were there and killed Frisk… No, Frisk didn’t deserve to die, she was innocent. It was Chara that needed to be taken out…

 

Taken out…

 

Sans stopped abruptly, head turned up to look at the rocky ceiling still so far above and the starting of a new snowfall. 

 

Could whatever Chara was be removed from Frisk? Was she a ghost? An evil spirit? Research would be needed but…

 

He looked down at his hands, frowning.

 

There was no way he could fit in the Snowdin Library. Unless…


	4. Your Best Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-QzmrZGhlswc/VujS2pG3OnI/AAAAAAAAA2c/ChEATAJ0xKk0HUMHxWzVfe1AbMp9RXzYQ/s646-no/USans%2BHeight%2Bchart.png
> 
> Did up a height chart for Ultra Sans for reference (mostly for myself, and kicking myself for not doing one to start with), hope this at least helps!

Two days came and went to the same routine. Sans would watch Frisk during the morning, letting her out to play around with the new addition of a toque and some gloves to stay out longer. Even allowing her to run up and down the village to play with some of the other kids along with a little bit of pocket money for treats. She wouldn’t be going anywhere anyways that way. Then by around noon, Papyrus would be back to keep the human child company, playing games and working on puzzles. The perfect distraction for Sans to go about his own business. He could trust Papyrus to keep an eye on her, make sure she didn’t run to Waterfall or get caught up by Undyne…

 

But by the third day with Papyrus’ return…

 

“HUMAN, HAVE YOU SEEN SANS?” Frisk shrugged, pointing to the back of the house only for Papyrus to sigh, “NO… HE WASN’T THERE WHEN I CAME IN.”

 

The tall skeleton looked bummed as he took a seat on the couch, the usual vim and vigour of the skeletal monster through the roof most days but now looked like it barely reached the top of his boots. It was downright sad just looking at him.

 

“I’M WORRIED ABOUT HIM, HUMAN… HE HASN’T BEEN HIS USUAL SELF AND ITS VERY WORRYING, I DON’T THINK HE’S EVEN EATEN ANYTHING TODAY EITHER! OR THE LAST FEW DAYS FOR THAT MATTER… THE SPAGHETTI IS STARTING TO BUILD UP IN THE FRIDGE... “ He sighed, leaning his head back and looking up at the ceiling, “AND HE KEEPS DISAPPEARING, WHICH ISN’T UNUSUAL BUT I’M SO USED TO HIM BEING AROUND AND PESTERING ME WITH HIS TERRIBLE PUNS! ...I MISS HIS PUNS…”

 

Frisk climbed up onto the couch beside Papyrus, sitting next to him and wrapping both arms around his while leaning against him. This getting a quiet chuckle from the skeleton as he reaches over to pat her head. 

 

“YOU MISS HIS TERRIBLE PUNS TOO, DON’T YOU? NYEH HEH... “ He sighed, “I’D FEEL A LOT BETTER IF I KNEW HE WAS AT LEAST EATING, EVEN THAT GREASE BUT I CAN NEVER FIND HIM WHEN HE DISAPPEARS LIKE THIS…”

 

Humming in thought, the human child moved to get off the couch and head into the kitchen, confusing Papyrus as she returned with a bottle of ketchup. She was then putting on her little hat and gloves, readying to brave the snowy world outside.

 

“HUMAN? ARE YOU… AWW, ARE YOU GOING TO GO FIND SANS FOR ME AND GIVE HIM HIS KETCHUP? THAT’S SO SWEET OF YOU! BUT I REALLY SHOULDN’T BE LETTING YOU GO OUT THERE ALONE... “ Papyrus frowned, already moving to get up but pausing. Frisk was pointing to the kitchen, then rubbing her tummy and finally making a big motion with her hands. “YOU… WANT ME TO MAKE LOTS OF SPAGHETTI TONIGHT? FOR YOU, ME AND SANS!? WHAT A WONDERFUL IDEA!! IT’LL BE THE BEST OF THE BEST!! NYEH HEH HEH!”

 

Smiling widely, she picked up the ketchup in both hands and was just about to leave when something red was suddenly the only thing in her field of vision. Only to find it lovingly wrapped about her.

 

“HERE, HUMAN. IT’S RATHER COOL OUT TODAY, TAKE MY SCARF FOR EXTRA WARMTH!”

 

Frisk blinked in surprise, this was Papyrus’ scarf… Wow.

 

“GO ON NOW! GO FIND SANS FOR ME, I’LL BE SURE TO HAVE SO MUCH SPAGHETTI READY WHEN YOU BOTH COME BACK!”

 

She was all but gently pushed out the door by Papyrus, stumbling down the steps before she found her footing and was off. Mission was go! Time to deliver the goods and bring back the target! Somehow… Target was pretty big and moody… 

 

She’d think up something, but first things first… Finding Sans. 

 

 

Wandering about the village, Frisk asked around about any sightings on large monsters in the area with a big smile. Some of the locals claimed to have seen something pretty big by the cliffs but when investigated it was just some sort of flying fish creature… Well, it had a smile.

 

Sighing, she went back to see if anyone else had spotted another giant sized monster with a big permanent grin on its face. Not that Sans had been smiling much lately. Though it wasn’t until Monster Kid came tripping by did she get a better lead, the armless reptilian kid saying something about seeing something huge in the forest by the river, scaring him all the way back to town. 

 

This had to be Sans… Who else could it be? But MK went on about finding Undyne to kick some butt on the bad guy, so she made a hasty exit out of Snowdin and towards the river. Once there, she took notice of the fishing pole in the snow and actively avoided it, knowing exactly what it was while skimming up and down the water. 

 

No Sans... maybe he was deeper in?

 

Heading upstream, Frisk followed along the river’s edge in search of the missing skeleton with a bottle of ketchup in hand and determination in her heart. Which was pumping quickly once she caught sight of a very large black hoodie up ahead through the trees and the closer she got, the louder there was of Sans’ grumbling. She took a wide berth around the trees and Sans to get a better understanding of what he was up to, still a good, healthy, distance away before getting around enough to see the side of his face. Only to shiver in fear. 

 

He had his tongue out… A look of concentration on his brow as he seemed to be working something out as he touched it while taking looks at the river he was seated by. She couldn’t see but there was something in his other hand, something he was playing with after touching his tongue. 

 

“Can make a tongue and… but can’t make this?” Sans grumbled, some words louder than others. “C’mon! Work with me here ya damned…” 

 

It went on like this for awhile. Sans either poking at whatever he had, sticking out his tongue to poke then look at the river while grumbling out more curses. His legs shifted then, raising up his knees to conceal even more of what he was up to as he glared at whatever was in his hand.

 

Frisk frowned, walking further in her widen arch around Sans to see if she could catch a glimpse of what he was working on. Her curiosity growing the more frustrated the skeleton seemed to get until her line of vision was his front. From what she could see… He was holding some sort of blue blob the same colour and consistency as his tongue, at least from the looks of it as his tongue formed out of nowhere again. Only for him to take a piece of it, which regrew instantly, and put it in the pile, making it a little bigger before trying to shape it. His eyes darting to the river then back again. It was odd to watch now that she could see what was going on. 

 

What was he trying to make? 

 

Whatever it was, it was giving him trouble as his cyan eye glared at the mass. His tongue coming and going with ease, like he was trying to get it to work out the same way. It wasn’t until something completely new formed from his body that had her staring in confusion…

 

Why would he form a ‘tongue’ down there? She shifted from foot to foot to get the soreness of standing in place for so long out of her legs but a sudden CRACK had her tensing up then quickly bolting behind a tree just as Sans head whipped up. His cyan eye scanning the area.

 

Oh geez… maybe he didn’t see her? 

 

She peeked out from behind the tree to look only to go white. Sans wasn’t there anymore…

 

“What do  **y o u**  want…” He snarled, his face less than a foot from Frisk with a hint of blue showing on his cheek bones.

 

“EEP!” Frisk shouted, nearly dropping the bottle of ketchup. She had to take a few stumbling steps back and away, scared for her life before finally thrusting out the bottle at arm's length with a little whimper as she closed her eyes. Her arms trembling, fearful she had seen something she wasn’t supposed to and was about to be punished for it. But when nothing came, she cracked open one eye to look at Sans who was staring at the ketchup bottle then her. He almost seemed hesitant to take it but when he did it looked so comedically small in his large bony fingers.

 

“Did… Papyrus send you out to give this to me..?” Sans asked, eyeing the scarf around her neck.

 

Frisk nodded.

 

“Oh…” Sans stared at the bottle for a little while longer before tucking it into his pocket. “Tell him I say thanks, and I’ll be home by dinner time.”

 

Another nod and she was slowly inching her way around Sans only to skitter off as quickly as she could through the woods back to Papyrus. Not even chancing a look back. 

 

\-----

 

Soon as Frisk was out of sight, Sans sighed deeply while moving from his stomach to sit back normally, leaning against a few trees that creaked but held his weight. One of his hands soon going to his head as he tried to sooth the pain of an oncoming headache while the other pulled out the tiny glass bottle of ketchup.He breathed out a faint laugh at the size of it while using his magic to open the top then pull out the red nectar from within. The size of it coming out to be like a droplet of rain, barely a taste but it wasn’t going to waste as he conjured up his tongue to lick up the floating morsel. 

 

“...Almost forgot how good ketchup was…” he hummed softly, put into a slightly better mood as he closed his eyes to relax.

  
  


“Well howdy Sansy! Glad to see… you… back..?”

 

Sans’ eyes were open in a millisecond and his head snapped down towards the little yellow flower staring wide eyed up at him. The plant looked as though it was immediately regretting its decision to visit the skeleton as it slunk a little ways into the ground while sweating profusely. 

 

“Ha… hah… Y-you look busy, sooooooo I’ll just be on my way!” 

 

“FLOWEY!!” Sans shouted, hand reaching out just as the flower ducked into the ground. But Flowey wasn’t going to be getting away so easily, his fingers driving into the frozen dirt and pulling up a large clump of it into the air. His red eye blinking in to stare through the mass.

 

“Come out Flowey… I can see you in there, hiding…”

 

A few petals and eyes peeked out of the clump of dirt, looking just as horrified as before before dragging itself out all the way with a forced happy smile. 

 

“Oh g-golly, you got me! Good game, Sans! N-now you go hide and I’ll try to find you!” That only got an even harder stare from that crimson eye, Flowey’s smile faltering, “W-wow… you’ve sure changed… Um… D-did you want something..?”

 

“Tell me about Chara.”

 

“Chara?” The flower asked curiously, the name alone causing a flare up of magic in that red eye, “W-wouldn’t you like to know about the Sans of this timeline instead?” 

 

“ **T e l l  m e  a b o u t  C H A R A!** ” 

 

“O-okay okay! W-what do you wanna k-know about her..?”

 

\-----

 

“HMM…” Papyrus hummed, looking over at the door now and then as he worked on the bubbling sauce for his spaghetti, little hands working away beside him to hand him some chopped mushrooms. Frisk had returned home in time to help with preparation on the sauce, adding her own touch to it to make the house smell absolutely delicious. 

 

“HUMAN, YOU DID SAY THAT SANS WOULD BE HOME IN TIME FOR DINNER. CORRECT?” He seemed to frown even as she nodded, his scarf still wrapped about her shoulders. It had been too cute to take back just yet. 

 

“WELL HE BETTER BE HERE SOON, DINNER IS ALMOST COMPLETE!” 

 

Frisk patted his arm, reassuring the skeleton that his brother would be along. If not through the door. 

 

Papyrus sighed loudly, giving the sauce one last stir before turning off the element for it. He then used a fork to pull out a piece of spaghetti from the other pot, blowing on it then handing it to Frisk, “HERE, HUMAN, TELL ME IF THIS IS READY.”

 

She took the hot noodle in hand, looking at it for a moment then bringing her arm back and flinging it against the wall. It stuck to it in a strange pattern, making her giggle as she threw a thumbs up at Papyrus. Who looked perplexed.

 

“...I MEANT EAT IT, BUT I THINK I LIKE YOUR METHOD MUCH BETTER, NYEH HEH.” The tall skeleton chuckled with delight, picking up his own piece of spaghetti to throw at the wall with the other. Both sticking together and making for an odd little heart shape if one tilted their head to the side. “...DOES THIS MEAN WE’RE DATING!?” 

 

Frisk couldn’t help smacking a hand to her face, same old Papyrus… A small sigh and she shrugged, making the skeleton grow all the more starry eyed and blushy as he held his cheeks. Though after snapping him out of it, she motioned to the spaghetti and sauce.

 

“RIGHT RIGHT! WE SHALL DISCUSS DATING LATER!”

 

With that, two plates of hot spaghetti were made up for the two to enjoy on the couch with another episode of Mettaton on the TV for entertainment. Though halfway through eating, Frisk paused in taking a bite as the hairs on the back of her neck rose. A feeling she got now and then to magic in the air and looking over at Papyrus, it wasn’t coming from him.

 

Which meant only one thing, Sans was back! 

 

Leaping off the couch, she ran into the kitchen to place her plate on the counter then pulling out the biggest plate the brothers owned to pile spaghetti and sauce on. 

 

“GOING FOR SECONDS HUMAN?” Papyrus asked, only to raise a brow when she shook her head, “NO? THAT WAS A LOT OF SPAGHETTI FOR ONE HUMAN… WAIT! ARE YOU GOING TO SURPRISE SANS BY MEETING HIM BEFORE HE GETS HOME!?” 

 

Frisk nodded vigorously, placing the plate down by their pet rock to get her shoes, mitts and hat on. Then preemptively opening the door.

 

“GOOD IDEA! ONLY BECAUSE THAT LAZY BONES IS LATE!”

 

She giggled, nodding before disappearing out the door with plate in both hands. Papyrus thankfully getting the door for her on the way out as she made her way around the back of the house, smiling when she sees Sans sitting in his spot. He looked lost in thought. At least until she tugged on his shorts to get his attention, drawing his eyes out to look down at her with a raised brow. Which turned to both going up as she raised the plate up to him in offering. 

 

“This for me..?” He asked, already reaching down to gently take up the small plate. “Guess I did say I’d be home for dinner… Sorry I’m late.” 

 

Frisk patted his knee, a reassuring smile on her face to say she didn’t mind. Though it turned to amusement once more at just how small everything looked in Sans’ possession, then fear when that horrible tongue came into existence with his mouth opening once more…

 

Which didn’t go unnoticed by Sans as he consumed dinner with a quick swipe of his tongue over the plate then handed back to Frisk who seemed grossed out by the thick layer of cerulean slime left behind. Much to the massive skeleton’s own amusement as she held it out at arm's length and watched some of the thick goop drip to the snowy ground. 

 

“Can’t blame me for that, Paps’ spaghetti was actually pretty good. Did you help?” 

 

Frisk nodded while crouching down and shoveling handfuls of snow onto the plate.

 

“Guess that would make sense… You’ve been around this route enough times to learn how to make edible spaghetti…”  

 

She looked up at Sans, unsure of what he meant or whether he was angry with her. It was so much harder to tell even with his face so large… Either way, the plate was mostly clean of  slime and the skeleton looked like he wanted to be left alone so she took that as a sign to quickly leave. 

  
  


“HUMAN? DID YOU FIND SANS?” Papyrus asked from the kitchen just as Frisk was getting in, lifting up the empty plate to show him. “OH WOWIE! HE CLEANED IT! THAT MUST MEAN HE SKIPPED GRILLBY’S TONIGHT! I’M SO PROUD!!” 

 

The lanky skeleton almost looked like he was about to cry but stayed strong, taking the plate to wash along with all the other dishes. Sans’ plate being the last one as he dried up his hands. 

 

“SO HUMAN… ABOUT THAT DATE?”

  
Right…


	5. Heartache

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Undyne comes for a visit!

Their date that night had went about as normally as expected with Papyrus having no actual feelings for Frisk and Frisk just humouring the skeleton until he came to such realization. Even in that goofy outfit he seemed to enjoy wearing every time. Such a lovable dork. 

 

They said their goodnights with Frisk returning his scarf and heading downstairs for bed, which felt as though sleep had zipped right on by that night as she groggily woke up to someone being loud… No doubt Papyrus but he didn’t sound like he was in the house, was he outside? Sleepily, she got up and threw on her outdoor attire and lazily made her way to the one sided shouting.

 

“SANS! YOUR HOODIE IS BEYOND FILTHY AND NEEDS TO BE WASHED!” Paps shouted, pulling on a corner of the hoodie. 

 

“It’s fine, bro. I’ll wash it later.” Sans replied back though wasn’t paying much attention as he was working on the thing in his hand again. 

 

“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU, JUST GIVE ME THE COAT AND I’LL CLEAN IT! YOU’VE LET IT GET SO DIRTY IT'S TURNED BLACK!” 

 

Frisk’s face fell, fairly certain that Sans’ coat wasn’t dirty...

 

“SANS!” 

 

A sigh and Sans put his now empty hands down and turned to look down at Papyrus tugging away uselessly at his coat. He had a smirk of amusement on his face, possibly thinking of giving the coat over to his brother just to see what he would try to do with it before shaking his head, “Paps… I’ll clean it, alright? It’s my favourite hoodie, I wouldn’t let it-”

 

“GET STAINED AND RIPPED? HONESTLY SANS, AT LEAST LET ME PATCH IT UP!” 

 

The poor massive skeleton just seemed to sigh all the louder, glancing over at his shoulders with a frown. Everything else about him had returned to normal but the spikes on his shoulders and part way down his bicep just didn’t want to recede back.

 

“Maybe later… Okay?”

 

“UNDYNE IS COMING BY LATER! I WANT YOU TO AT LEAST LOOK LESS SLOBBISH THAN USUAL!”

 

“Undyne is coming?!

 

“WHY YES, SHE IS!” Papyrus finally stopped tugging to strike a proud pose, “I FINALLY REMEMBERED TO TELL HER THAT WE CAPTURED A HUMAN! NO IDEA WHY I FORGOT UNTIL NOW THOUGH…”

 

Frisk couldn’t help giggling, having a good idea as to why. Though it caught the attention of both of the skeleton brothers.

 

“AH GOOD! HUMAN, UNDYNE WILL BE HERE IN A FEW HOURS, SO BE GOOD AND STAY CAPTURED UNTIL THEN! ALRIGHT?”

 

Papyrus was about to head over to pat Frisk on the head only to be stopped in his tracks, unable to move any further with his scarf end being pinched between Sans’ thumb and index finger. His head swivelling to look at Sans’ blank eyed expression curiously.

 

“Paps… You do know what Undyne will do to Fr- the human, right?”

 

“OF COURSE! THE HUMAN WILL BE TAKEN TO THE KING WHERE HE AND THIS HUMAN WITH A POWERFUL SOUL WILL HELP WITH OPENING THE BARRIER!” 

 

Sans face pinched into a pained expression. “No… She’s going to kill the human and take her soul to Asgore…” 

 

“SANS! HOW COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN FRONT OF THE HUMAN!” Papyrus huffed, pulling away his scarf to coddle Frisk, “DON’T LISTEN TO SANS, MR.DREEMURR IS PRETTY MUCH A PUSHOVER. HE AND UNDYNE WOULD NEVER HURT YOU!” 

 

Frisk smiled weakly, glancing over to Sans who shook his head.

 

“NOW, PLAY OUTSIDE FOR A BIT HUMAN, I NEED TO CLEAN UP THE HOUSE FOR WHEN UNDYNE COMES TO VISIT!”

 

She made an OK sign with her hand to the excited skeleton who just laughed, patted her head then headed into the house to clean, leaving her to stand awkwardly outside. With Sans… Who looked more disappointed than angry.

 

“Frisk…” Turning to the voice, she looked up at Sans, “C’mere.”

 

Hesitant, the human slowly walked up to Sans. It didn’t look like he had any sort of ill intent in mind while he waited for her to inch her way closer, close enough for him to reach out and pick her up around the waist without warning, making her squeak out in surprise.

 

“Sorry…” Sans mumbled, raising her up to eye level. 

 

Frisk couldn’t help squirming fearfully, worried that they would have another repeat of a few days ago. With those teeth somehow opening, that blue, apparently, slimy tongue and the endless void of his mouth… But when his head tilted to the side, she was soon finding herself surrounded in the fluffy environment of Sans hood, sinking a little ways into the fluff with a perplexed look on her face.

 

“Stay in there, okay? Least until I can figure things out…” 

 

“Okay.” She softly replied back, settling into the hood. It was incredibly cozy and warm. A little too warm so she took off her hat and mittens to get comfortable, yawning a little. Guess a little more sleep wouldn’t hurt, she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

  
  


Frisk woke to a loud voice once more, figuring Papyrus must have been finished cleaning as she sat up a little and rubbed her eyes. Slightly confused at first to where she was at first, turning her head from side to side at the off white environment only to remember being picked up and placed in the hood of Sans’ coat.

 

“HUMAN! OH HUMAN! WHERE DID YOU GO?” 

 

She moved to sleepily crawl out only to stop when a large skeletal hand blocked her followed by a quiet ‘no’ that had her backing up into the fluffy hood once more, just barely seeing a little over the rim. Papyrus was still calling out for her, sounding bit by bit more worried with each call and no human running to greet him. Then she could hear the crunching of snow getting louder and louder as it drew near, guessing that the tall skeleton was coming closer. 

 

“SANS, HAVE YOU SEEN THE HUMAN? 

 

“Sorry bro, can’t say that I have.”  Sans distractedly replied, still working away at that weird tongue goop thing.

 

“ODD… I HOPE THE HUMAN DIDN’T RUN AWAY, I TOLD THEM TO STAY PUT...”

 

“Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t want their soul taken from them.”

 

“SANS! THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! THEY PROBABLY WERE SCARED OFF BY YOUR TALK OF… TERRIBLE THINGS!” Papyrus stamped his foot in annoyance, folding his arms soon after with a loud huff.

 

“If you don’t believe me then ask Undyne what she’ll do with the human when she gets here.”

 

“I WILL! WHEN SHE GETS HERE, UNTIL THEN I’M GOING TO GO SEARCH FOR THE HUMAN!!” His face a bright orange as he turned to stomp his way towards town. 

 

“Okay…” Sans sighed, looking around the area before shifting over to be more hidden behind the house. His attention soon back on his work.

 

Frisk peeked out soon after, catching Papyrus’ back before he was gone from sight. She was awake now and in need of something to do as she checked out her new surroundings. Shifting, she could feel a few hard bones beneath her as she crawled around before coming up to one of those shoulder spikes torn through the hood. A curious poke at it was the first thing to come to mind before she ran a hand along the bone, humming at how smooth and warm it felt. Alive with magic.

 

“D-don’t touch...that.” 

 

“Sorry…” She apologized, quickly removing her hand then moving to be more on Sans’ shoulder to look at what was going on in his hands. “What are you doing?”

 

“Making something.” Came the vague reply. Something was right, the shapeless mass from earlier was starting to take shape and was certainly started to look oddly familiar…

 

With nothing else to really do, Frisk took to watching Sans shape the mass. Not with his fingers, like she had thought, but with magic as a faint cyan was glowing off his fingertips to move each area around. A focused look on what she could see of his face.

 

It wasn’t until a good thirty minutes passed before he seemed satisfied with what he had and the reason for its familiarity became clear. The massive skeleton had made a regular sized version of himself, his old smiling self only looking kind of like jello in all blue and slightly see through. 

 

Like his tongue…

 

“Guess it’ll have to do for now..” Sans mumbled to himself, lowering his hand down to the ground. 

 

And to Frisk’s surprise, the little blue Sans actually hopped off, tucking his hands into his pockets and turned about to face them. Apparently awaiting some kind of order, though the only thing off was how dark his eye sockets were. So empty and devoid of life.

 

What was Sans going to do with this smaller version of himself? 

 

The pinpoints of light in the blue Sans’ eyes surprisingly lit up then, its head turning from side to side to look around before looking up and jerking back a pace. A hand over his heart.

 

“Geez… Almost gave myself a heart attack there. Guess I am pretty scary… a real  **bone** -ified monster.” 

 

It could talk… The blue Sans could talk and was already cracking terrible puns. Frisk could only stare at this weird Sans-like creature before jumping as the real Sans’ head tilted forward limply. Her face filled with worry as she reached out to touch the back of a neck bone to see if he was alright.

 

“Hey!” She jumped, looking down at the fake Sans. “Don’t worry about him- me… But stay there, okay? I’ve got some stuff I need to do.” 

 

Wait, that was Sans? Frisk nodded dumbly, waving when the other waved at her before heading off into town. And once gone, she quickly climbed down off of Sans to look up at him, noticing quickly the empty and lifeless eye sockets and lax position. Almost like he was sleeping…It was both weird and worrying as she climbed back up and huddled into his hood. At least he was still warm.

 

\-----

 

“Is there really a human around here?”

 

“YES TINY CHILD! AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS MUST FIND THEM AND BRING THEM BACK FOR UNDYNE TO TAKE!” Papyrus announced loudly, looking around and under the decorated  centerpiece tree in the middle of the village.

 

“Undyne is going to be here!? Oh wow! Is she going to beat up that human!?” 

 

“I’D… RATHER SHE DIDN’T, TINY CHILD.”

 

“Name’s Monster Kid, or MK. Not tiny child…” The small dinosaur like monster retorted while following after Papyrus, tripping and falling on his face now and then before scrambling to catch up, “And why not? Isn’t that what Undyne does? Beat up bad guys?”

 

“THE HUMAN REALLY ISN’T A… NEVERMIND, I NEED TO FIND THEM BEFORE UNDYNE ARRIVES.”

 

“Can I help?” 

 

“NO NO, I LOST THE HUMAN. I NEED TO FIND THEM…”

 

“Aw, c’mon bro. He looks like he’s…  **Undyne** to help.” 

 

Papyrus whipped his head around, eye twitching as the child beside him burst into laughter while Sans stood by with a huge grin on his face. 

 

“SANS! THAT WAS HORRID!!” 

 

“I know, I’m a little  **bone-dry** on any good puns at the moment.”

 

“AAAHH!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE ANYWAYS!?”

 

“Figured you could use some help looking for the human. Maybe a hand?” Sans started clapping then, directing a wink at Papyrus who was turning orange in the face.

 

“FOR THE LOVE OF- SANS! THIS IS SERIOUS!!”

 

“I know, that’s why we need to-” 

 

“There you PUNKS are!!” Both skeleton brothers jumped in surprise before turning to the voice, watching as a figure in a full set of armor came tromping up to the two. “I was knockin’ on your door for ages and no one was there to answer! One of you wanna tell me why you’re all the way over here!?”

 

“We lost the human.” Sans bluntly replied.

 

“WHAT!? How do you lose a human!? Papyrus said you guys had it for three days! How do you lose it now?!?” 

 

“I- I CAN EXPLAIN!”   
  
“Can it, PUNK! We’ll just go find this human, it can’t of gone too far since I didn’t see one when I came into town. Now, where haven’t you looked?” 

 

“Grillyby’s.”

 

“SANS!” 

 

“What? I know you haven’t looked in there yet. You never know, and if the human isn’t in there we can catch a bite to eat.” Sans shrugged.

 

“Hm, mini punk is right. Plus I could use some grease, it’s been a long trip here and this armor ain’t light.”

 

“Sweet, let’s head on over then.” 

 

Undyne was about to follow only to notice the starry eyed monster child staring up at her, “Need something, kid?” 

 

“I’m your biggest fan!!” 

 

“Heh, cute, run along now. We’ve got work to do, but keep an eye out for any humans for me, alright?” 

 

“Yes sir!!” MK nodded, quickly turning to leave only to flop face first into the snow.

 

“Heh… So, Papyrus…” Undyne started, both her and the tall skeleton falling behind in following Sans. “Notice anything… different about your brother?” 

 

“WELL… HE DOES SEEM A LITTLE BLUE…” 

 

“Anything else..?” She pressed.

 

“MMM… NO, NOT REALLY.”

 

Her helmet covered head just stared at Papyrus as they walked, loosing out a deep sigh to the skeleton’s ignorance some days as they turned into the establishment. Sans was already in his usual spot, much to all the other patrons curious eyes on him. Least she wasn’t the only one to notice…

 

“Whoa! It’s Undyne! Undyne’s here!” A few patrons called out, everyone’s attention now on her.

 

“Yeah yeah, I’m here. Any of you punks seen a human around?!” 

 

There were a few mutterings of negatives while a few others seemed to point at Papyrus who turned orange in the cheeks again., “THEY ESCAPED…” 

 

“Well, no human here. Guess we can have that grease now!” Undyne laughed, walking up to the bar to sit beside Sans then removing her helmet to place on the counter. Followed by a pouty Papyrus as he took the seat next to her. “Hey Grillby’s! Give me an order of your cheese fries, and make ‘em extra greasy! Haha!” 

 

Grillby nodded, placing down the glass he was cleaning and turned to look at Papyrus. Awaiting his order.

 

“OH, NO… I DON’T WANT ANYTHING, THANK YOU.”

 

“Sure ya do, bro. Get him a milkshake and my usual.”

 

“SANS! I DON’T WANT ANY… GREASE…” 

 

“Trust me on this one, it’s not grease.”

 

Papyrus could only sigh loudly and mope, idly playing with a coaster while the food was being prepared, not even noticing the hard glare Undyne was directing at Sans. His brother just smiling back up at her.

 

“Something on my face?” 

 

“More than just your face, PUNK. Who are you!?” Undyne growled lowly, baring her sharp teeth.

 

“Oh, that’s easy I’m Sans. Sans the skeleton.” He held out his hand in greeting.

 

“DON’T SHAKE HIS HAND!” 

 

“Aw… Party pooper.” Sans sighed, putting his hand back in his pocket. 

 

Their food arrived just then, Papyrus looking dubiously over the shake placed in front of him. Expecting grease to just ooze out of it like Undyne’s cheese fries that were still slightly sizzling away on her plate while Sans took up the bottle of ketchup with a word of thanks. After a moment, and no grease to appear, he took a hesitant sip of the shake and nearly melted on the spot with how delicious it was, getting a chuckle from Sans at seeing the pure joy on his brother’s face. 

 

“Pretty good, right?” Papyrus just nodded, unwilling to let up on his treat. 

 

There was still strong tension in the air, Undyne still sidelong glaring at Sans with her good eye as they consumed their meals. Silence filling most of the void of chewing and sipping, and it was driving her up the wall.

 

“NGAHHH!!” She yelled, whipping around on her barstool to grab Sans up by the front of his coat in both hands. She stood up with him dangling from her hold, still grinning away like this was the norm. “Answer me PUNK!! WHO ARE YOU!?”

 

“UNDYNE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? PUT SANS DOWN!”

 

“This isn’t Sans!!”

 

“I beg to differ.”

 

“SHUT IT PHONY! Who are you and why are you taking advantage of Papyrus!?” 

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

 

“NRAAHHH!!” Undyne snarled, holding Sans up now with one hand as the other lifted into the air. A crackle of magic coming to life as a magic spear was generated out of nothing. “Don’t play coy with me! Whatever game you’re playing isn’t funny!!”

 

“UNDYNE, S-STOP!”

 

“Sorry Papsie. I didn’t sit and comfort you all those training days just for some PHONY PUNK to come in and take advantage of you!” 

 

Sans expression turned to confusion, tilting his head to stare over Undyne’s shoulder at Papyrus for some sort of explanation only for his eyes to grow wide as he grasped. The spear Undyne had conjured up was now firmly lodged right through him, his shape distorting and fading in and out. 

 

“Wow… Heh, guess you could…  **see right through me** …” He chuckled weakly, one eye pinched shut in pain as sweat began to bead on his brow. “H-hey, Grillby? Just uh… put it on my tab?” 

 

That got a slow nod from the fiery owner, the entire establishment all but staring at the scene unfolding before them. 

 

“Heh… thanks Grillby, I’d say you’re always so  **chill** about it but y’know…” His form continued to waver, nearly fading away before getting one final comment out. “S-see ya later bro…” 

 

Finally dissolving to nothing, Papyrus couldn’t take it anymore. “SANS!” He choked out then turned to the fish lady, “UNDYNE HOW COULD YOU!?!”

 

“PAPYRUS! Get a grip! That wasn’t your brother!!” Undyne quickly turned to Papyrus, grabbing his shoulders to give him a firm shake, “He was fake! Not real! Some sort of sicko playing with your emotions!”

 

“B-BUT HE REALLY IS HERE! TH-THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME H-HE FINALLY LEFT THE BACK OF THE HOUSE TO DO ANYTHING WITH ME…” 

 

“Back of the house?” Undyne questioned, her good eye narrowing. “I thought I saw something weird behind your place…” 

 

Letting go of Papyrus, she grabbed up a handful of her fries to stuff into her jagged mouth then quickly slammed down a few gold to pay for her meal. Her helmet soon tucked under her arm as she rushed out of the building, leaving the skeleton to stand in confusion. He turned to his drink which had been knocked over during the whole confrontation, making him sigh sadly while tossing his own gold down and swiftly moving to catch up with Undyne.

 

\-----

 

Sans’ head snapped up abruptly, the motion making him groan and bring a hand up to his skull as he regretted the action. Even more so when he heard a small squeak coming from his hood, remembering now that Frisk was still hiding in there.

 

“Damn… Sorry kid. Ugh, now I’ve gotta make another one… What a waste.” He grumbled with annoyance, though kept his hand on his head. A headache already forming. 

 

Frisk stared dumbly at the back of Sans’ skull, certainly not expecting the other to come back so violently. Had something happened to his smaller blue Sans? So with a little effort, she stood up on the soft ground and carefully balanced made her way up to that massive skull and gently tapped it, getting a low ‘hm?’ in response.

 

“Did...something happen?” She asked.

 

“...Don’t worry about it.”

 

Just as vague and cold as ever… She sighed softly, sitting back down and going back to the nothing she had been doing before. Well, that wasn’t true, she had been idly checking the area out and peeking into any holes that she could reach, seeing mostly bone but there was something red tied around Sans upper right arm that she had been trying to reach before being startled away.

 

A familiar crunching of snow soon started to tromp their way, sounding like heavily armoured boots. Frisk knew that sound off by heart, all those times being chased around Waterfall by Undyne and she was quick to sink down lower into Sans’ hood. The fish lady hadn’t noticed Sans the first time around, so hopefully she would just be leaving… Or getting even closer and suddenly stopping. 

 

\-----

 

Turning the corner around the right side of the house, Undyne stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the massive skeleton sitting behind Papyrus’ home, staring her down with a deep frown set on his face. She knew she saw something coming into town but her helmet did have a narrow slit for vision making her think nothing of it. But this? This was unexpected…

 

Papyrus soon caught up, standing next to her and gasping with excitement. “SANS! YOU’RE OKAY!” 

 

“Yeah…”

 

Undyne leaned over to Papyrus, voice low, “Please tell me you notice something different about this… Sans?”

 

“WELL…” The tall skeleton thought it over a moment with a hand rubbing his chin, “HE HAS GAINED WEIGHT.”

 

She turned to him with an ‘ARE YOU SERIOUS!?’ look that went unnoticed, making her sigh loudly and resume glaring death at the other skeleton.

 

“BUT I WAS SO WORRIED! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONE AGAIN WHEN UNDYNE SPEARED YOU AT GRILLBY’S!!”

 

Again? Sans turned his attention from glaring at Undyne to raising a brow at Papyrus, still curious as to what he was talking about and before at Grillby’s. But didn’t get the chance as an onslaught of spears were quickly formed and hurdling through the air at him. His eye quickly flashing between cyan and yellow before fixing on cyan and stopping the spears mid-flight. They trembled violently, trying to force their way through his own magic to skewer him but unable to budge an inch. 

 

Much to Undyne’s annoyance.

 

“STOP IT! UNDYNE PLEASE!”

 

“PAPYRUS!” Undyne snapped back, dropping her focus and the spears, “THAT is not your brother either!! THAT is a literal MONSTER! And IT needs to be DESTROYED!!” 

 

“H-HOW COULD YOU SAY SUCH THINGS ABOUT SANS!? OF COURSE HE’S MY BROTHER!!”

 

“Actually…” Sans voice broke in between the two, grabbing their attention, “She’s right, I’m not…”

 

“THANK YOU!” Undyne shouted, both hands thrown up in the air only to pause, “Wait what..?”

 

“SANS, DON’T BE SILLY, OF COURSE YOU’RE MY BROTHER.”

 

“Papyrus…” The massive skeleton sighed, though caught Papyrus’ look of surprise at being called by his full name. Not bro, or Paps. “Listen to me… I am not your brother.”

 

“I- I DON’T BELIEVE YOU!!”

 

“Fine, I’ll prove it then… Fight me.” Sans’ eyes darkened.

 

“S-SANS, NO…NO,  I- I CAN’T-”

 

“No way PUNK!! He ain’t gonna fight you!!” 

 

“ **S t a y  o u t  o f  t h i s.** ”

 

Undyne found herself being lifted up and thrown bodily backwards into a tree across the path, knocking the breath right out of her as she fell to her hands and knees. 

 

“UNDYNE!”  Papyrus called out, about to run to her aid only to be stopped by the calling of his name again. He couldn’t help shivering as he turned to look up at Sans.

 

“N-NO! I WON’T FIGHT YOU!!” 

 

“Then I’ll go first…” Sans shifted out from behind the house until he was parallel with Papyrus, eyes still empty as a massive bone came ripping out of the ground towards the smaller skeleton. Who didn’t move, not even to defend himself as it got closer and closer but at the very last second turned blue and went right through him and sank back into the ground.

 

“Your turn.” 

 

Papyrus stood there frozen, eyes wide and chest rising and falling rapidly as he shakily shook his head. Voice gone.

 

“All you have to do is hit me…” 

 

His red gloved hands flew up to his head then, hunching over as he shook. Bones rattling loudly and tears coming to his eyes.

 

“Papyrus…” ‘Bro…’

“Just hit me…” ‘It’ll be fine, trust me.’

 

“Pa...Papyrus…” Undyne called out weakly, still winded as she struggled to her feet.

 

“I…” 

 

“Papy-”

 

“NO! SHUT UP!!” Papyrus shouted, voice growing an octave higher and cracking, “I TRUSTED YOU!!!”

 

He threw his hands down furiously, tears streaming down his face as a bone club formed in one hand which was quickly gripped tight. A look of determination set in his long features as he took two half running steps towards Sans and hurled the bone at the other with everything he had, stumbling with the force of it.

 

It struck home, a full one damage worth of power behind it as the bone bounced off of Sans’ forehead to disappear into the ground. Papyrus could only stare in shock as the other continued to sit there like nothing had happened.

 

“Y-YOU…” He stumbled with his words only to look excited, “SANS! YOU’VE FINALLY DONE SOME TRAINING! YOU’VE GOT SO MUCH HEALTH NOW!”

 

“For the love of--!” Sans growled, immediately reaching out to grab Papyrus off the ground in both hands and up into the air until they were face to face. His white eyes back and narrowed.  

 

“Listen to me… I. AM. NOT. YOUR. BROTHER.” he all but spelled out. “Papyrus… I know you’re not this… I know you’re smarter than this, just get it through that thick skull of yours! I am not your S-”

 

The massive skeleton didn’t even see the fist coming at him until it cracked him hard in the cheek, literally. There was enough force behind it to leave a fracture and knock his head slightly to the side, shocking him as that had done a full five damage. The most he’s been hurt so far, and shifting his eyes to look at Papyrus… The other looked pretty hurt as well while cradling his hand, but not the physical kind.

 

“You think I didn’t notice..?” Sans’ eyes widened, having never heard Papyrus so quiet before. So filled with crushing emotional pain. 

 

“Of course I did! How could I not? Your size… disrepair… sadistic smile…” He shuddered then, scared. “But you were back! You came back to me, if changed! Like I… like I had never…” Papyrus bowed his head then, breath hitching as he started to cry again. His hands moving to clutch at Sans’ fingers, squeezing tight with his voice barely above a whisper, “...killed you…” 

 

“Pa-Papyrus… I- I had no idea…”

 

“It...It was an accident… You- Sans told me to go at him with everything I had and knowing him… He didn’t have much health, try as I might to help he just… And I…” He sobbed, unable to finish. 

 

“I’m sorry… I am so sorry…” Sans murmured, bringing the other to his sternum to hug. Only to feel gloved hands pushing him away, which hurt but quickly changed when Papyrus squirmed his way out of his grasp to grab at his face instead to hug. His eyes dimming then, tears welling up in his own sockets as he hugged back tight. 

 

A strong sense of empathy welling up in his chest. 

 

“Ya-y’know… I’m kind of missing a really cool brother myself…” Papyrus looked up at him then, eyes wide with the implication of what’s to come. “You maybe… wanna…? W-we wouldn’t be replacing… just making the best of two horrible-”

 

“JUST SHUT UP AND HUG ME SANS!!” 

  
“Heh... Okay... bro.” 


	6. Unnecessary Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NGAAAAHHH!!

They hugged for what felt like ages, even as Undyne dragged herself over to the two getting so mushy with each other but couldn’t find it in herself to stay frowning for long. Papyrus was happy, truly happy, after so long and that’s all that really mattered to her, even if this other so called Sans was willing to become apart of his life. She didn’t trust him though, he gave off a horrific bone chilling vibe that just rubbed her the wrong way. 

But there was also something about him that she couldn’t pin down either. 

 

“Hey! You NERDS done being affectionate yet?! That human still needs to be found!!” 

 

Papyrus turned to look down at her, seemingly now remembering the human was still missing, “AH! RIGHT, APOLOGIES! I’LL BE DOWN TO HELP IN A MOMENT!”

 

He turned back to Sans with an affectionate smile, patting a large cheek only to notice the fracture. Whoops… A moment to heal it and he motioned to be put down, which seemed reluctant but a good idea. Both brothers quickly wiping away the residual tears from their sockets and faces.

 

“SANS, WILL YOU BE HELPING IN SEARCH FOR THE HUMAN?” 

 

“Once I make a new uh… me, I will. Can’t really go walking around town like this.”

 

“ALRIGHT, BUT BE SURE TO TRY AND COME AS SOON AS YOU ARE ABLE.”

 

“I w-will.” Sans replied back if shifting awkwardly.

 

Frisk had been a perfect little angel throughout the entire exchange with his brother, staying quiet and out of sight but was now moving. Guess he couldn’t blame the kid for being so restless but she could at least wait until Papyrus and Undyne were gone before digging around his hood and tugging at something.

 

“ARE YOU OKAY SANS?”

 

“Peachy… Heh, d-don’t wait up for me.” 

 

He nonchalantly reached up to his right shoulder where he could feel Frisk moving to try to get her to stop, lightly nudging at her. It didn’t work all that well as she continued on though now tugging from side to side at whatever she had was pulling on his upper arm. Something caught in his bones and each tug had him twitching minutely, it didn’t hurt but was starting to turn into a nuisance as both Papyrus and Undyne stared at him. There was some give after a sharp tug but with the sudden slack she was unbalanced, tumbling right out of his hood and dangling by the long red material in her hands. 

 

“HUMAN!!” Papyrus shouted gleefully while Sans groaned and placed a hand to his head. “WAIT… SANS DID YOU HAVE THE HUMAN THIS ENTIRE TIME!?”

 

Gently picking Frisk up, Sans frowned at her for giving away her spot, getting a weak little apologetic smile from her which he couldn’t stay mad at. Even as she tugged at the red material until it finally came loose, fluttering out. Which he then picked up by the other end and was looked over between the two.

 

It was his Papyrus’ scarf; tattered, frayed and had seen better days...

 

“SANS!” 

 

Sighing softly, Sans tucked Frisk along with the scarf back into his hood and looked down at the two. Papyrus looked disappointed while Undyne looked pissed.

 

“Yeah, I did and I’m not giving her to Undyne.” 

 

“WHAT!?!” Two voices shouted at the same time.

 

“BUT I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT THE HUMAN!”

 

“You better have a DAMNED good explanation for this, PUNK!” 

 

“I do… But Paps is under the assumption that nothing bad is going to happen to the human once you take her away. Care to tell him what’s going to happen?”

 

Undyne froze, turning her attention slowly to a hopeful looking Papyrus. She grit her teeth, hoping to never have this chat with the other only to sigh deeply. 

 

“Once captured the human will be taken to King Asgore who will… Take their soul and use it with the others to open the barrier.” 

 

“TAKE..?”

 

“Yes… As in killed and removed from their body.” 

 

“WHA…” Papyrus stared at her in horror then up at Sans who shrugged. Obviously not wanting to say I told you so, not while he was making that face. “B-BUT…”

 

“Sorry punk… Just how it goes and we only need one more to get out of here. So hand ‘em over!” Undyne turned on Sans, spear out and teeth bared.

 

“No…” 

 

“Don’t make this any harder than it has to be!”

 

“ **T r y  m e.** ” Sans’ cyan eye ignited.

 

“STOP IT!” Papyrus shouted, stepping between the two. “NO! NO FIGHTING!”

 

“This punk is keeping us from our freedom!! We could be looking at the sun and stars for real by now!! Why!? Why do this!!” 

 

“I have my reasons…” Sans replied quietly, eyes darkening.

 

Undyne gripped her spear tighter, gloves creaking and just about ready to launch at him but not with Papyrus in the way. He had a pleading look in his eyes.

 

“UNDYNE… PLEASE, LET ME TALK TO HIM. ALONE...” He begged, gently placing his hands over the ones holding the spear. Which thankfully faded away.

 

“Alright… I’m gonna go get a room at the inn but I’ll be back later!” She shot a glare at Sans before turning to leave. Leaving Papyrus to sag and sigh softly as he rubbed his head. His attention soon turning to Sans whose expression had softened but seemed tired.

 

“SANS-”

 

“I’m not doing it…”

 

“I KNOW SANS… I DON’T WANT TO EITHER, NOT ANYMORE…” He hugged himself, staring down at the ground. 

 

Frisk peeked out then, hesitant to climb down but wasn’t stopped as she made it to the snowy ground. The red scarf now around her and fluttering behind her as she ran to Papyrus, who jumped slightly at having his legs hugged.

 

“HUMAN…” He kneeled down to hug her back tight. “I’M SORRY HUMAN…” 

 

She patted his back, forgiving him as he picked her up. His hand curiously holding up the scarf end around her.

 

“THIS LOOKS LIKE MY SCARF…”

 

“It is…” Papyrus looked up at Sans, “Sort of… It’s my bro.’s scarf.” 

 

He looked down at the scarf again, heart sinking before turning to walk up to Sans as he continued,

 

“I wrapped it around my humerus to keep it safe… So I wouldn’t lose it but I forgot about it…” 

 

Putting Frisk down, Papyrus unwrapped the scarf from around her neck to hold in both hands, really getting a look at the damage. Must have been some fight…

 

“I’M SORRY SANS…” 

 

“I am too…”

 

Frisk looked between the two, torn on who to go to first but soon had an idea. She asked for the scarf from Papyrus first who gave it to her then motioned for Sans to come closer, smiling as he moved to lean down on his elbow. Once close enough, she looped the scarf around the big bone holding the ribs in the front, the gladiolus, wrapping it around twice then tying it into a bow. Right in front of where his heart would be. 

 

“So you don’t forget.” She quietly told him with a smile. 

 

Sans looked down at the bow, bringing a shaky hand up to gently touch it as tears came to his eyes. He soon sank to the ground to bury his face in his arm, shoulders shaking as he cupped the scarf to his chest. 

 

He didn’t even have to look up to know that Frisk and Papyrus were there to comfort him, both of them hugging what they could with Papyrus nuzzling his skull to his affectionately. The affection familiar and soothing to his poor, broken, soul. It wasn’t until a tiny grumble had Sans chuckling as he slowly looked up, Frisk was sadly looking down at her tummy with a hand over it. Hungry. He turned his attention to Papyrus who seemed to know just what to do as he smiled brightly.

 

“COME HUMAN, LET’S GET SOME FOOD IN YOU!” He offered his gloved hand, taking hers up into his own before looking at his brother. “WOULD YOU LIKE SOMETHING AS WELL SANS?” 

 

“No thanks bro. I think I’m good for awhile yet.”

 

That got a pretty big smile from Papyrus, making Sans smile back. A first in a long time to the frown that had taken over. Which came back not long after the two went inside, Sans sighing loudly as he idly toyed with the scarf tied to his sternum, rubbing his thumb along the bow. He stopped after a moment to conjure up another blob of blue, setting to work in making another little Sans.

 

\-----

 

“HMM…” Papyrus hummed, squinting at the puzzle piece in his hand then down at the incomplete puzzle him and Frisk had going on the floor after their meal. According to the box, it was to be a field of multicoloured flowers. Not his choice pick in jigsaw puzzles but it was what Frisk had wanted to put together. 

 

“AH HA! I THINK I HAVE IT!” He proudly announced, plunking down the piece into a spot only to find it didn’t fit either way he placed it. A frown growing on his face. “HUMPH!” 

 

Frisk could only giggle at Papyrus’ frustration, patting his arm as she picked up the piece and tried to tap it into a few other places then slotting it in. A near shriek leaving the skeleton. 

 

“REALLY!?”

 

“Something wrong bro?” Both turned to look at the door, just now noticing it closing behind a new blue Sans.

 

“THIS PUZZLE IS INCREDIBLY HARD!” 

 

“Oh? Let me see.” Walking in with hands tucked away, he peeked over Papyrus’ shoulder to get a gander at their progress. “Aw, maybe you should  **leaf** it for now to  **stem** the urge to break it.”

 

Papyrus shot up, looking ready to yell at Sans only to grab him up into the air into a tight hug. “I’VE MISSED YOUR PUNS.”

 

“Really?”

 

“NO! THEY’RE AWFUL!!”

 

That got Sans laughing, Papyrus soon following suit as he placed his brother down and gave him a once over, curious. So was Frisk it seemed as she lightly poked at Sans’ arm, her face scrunched in confusion when slime didn’t follow. 

 

“SO, CARE TO ENLIGHTEN US ABOUT… THIS?” He motioned to all of Sans who shrugged.

 

“Real me is too big to get into most places, so I used some magic to make a mini me.  **Short** of being awesome, I can hang out with you guys more now.”

 

“AND PLAGUE ME WITH PUNS!”

 

“Yep.”

 

That got a giggle from Frisk as she moved to get her turn at hugging Sans, only to make a bit of a face at the weird texture and feel of this doppleganger. Like hugging stiff jello, she half expected him to jiggle when she let go.

 

“Heh, sorry kid. Just something to get used to.” Sans shrugged, taking up a seat on the couch with eyes closed and breathing out a content sigh. Happy to settle down on something that wasn’t cold hard ground.

 

The cushions on both sides of him sank down, he cracked open an eye then to see Papyrus on one side and Frisk on the other still staring at him. At least until Papyrus hugged him tight while Frisk just seemed content to poke at him.

 

“I LIKE IT! YOU FEEL EVEN MORE SQUISHY AND HUGGABLE!” His brother quipped, rubbing his cheek against the crown of Sans’ blue skull.  

 

“Thanks bro.”

 

A loud knock on the door broke the three from their interactions, each turning to look at the door before Papyrus got up to answer it. His smile growing even if the face on the other side looked unhappy. 

 

“UNDYNE! WELCOME BACK!”

 

Looks like she had changed into her tanktop, jeans and combat boots for comfort as she stepped into the house, her good eye locking onto Sans. A small scrunch of her face was the most she came up with at seeing him back. 

 

“Hey… You talk to your ‘brother’ yet about the human?” She made quote marks with her fingers. 

 

“I DID!”

 

“And?”

 

“WE DON’T WANT THE HUMAN TO DIE.” 

 

“PAPYRUS! I seriously can’t stress the importance of THIS being the last soul we need to get out of here!! Are you really going to hold everyone back just because you don’t want to take this human’s soul!?”

 

“WELL… WE’RE KIND OF FRIENDS... “ Papyrus rubbed the back of his neck. “IT WOULD BE HARD TO WANT TO DO THAT TO A FRIEND… NOT THAT YOU WOULD REALLY-”

 

“That a challenge punk!? Think I can’t oust someone after becoming friends with them!?”

 

“I DIDN’T REALLY… UH-” He caught both Sans and Frisk throwing him a thumbs up and nodding, “I MEAN YES! EVEN I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, COULD NOT ACCOMPLISH SUCH A TASK!” 

 

“Ohhhh, you are on!! Undyne cackled; stomping into the house, overtop of their puzzle to stand before Frisk and lean in to grab her by the shoulders. “You and me, punk!! We’re gonna be the best of friends!”

 

That was a lot of teeth… But after an awkward moment, she backed off to head back over to the door. 

 

“Tomorrow human! We’re going to have a training day, right here! Papyrus! Make sure you have the stuff ready for us!”

 

“WILL DO!” 

 

And with that, Undyne was out the door and gone, leaving Frisk to sag in her seat. A chuckle soon coming from beside her.

 

“LUCKY YOU, HUMAN! TRAINING WITH UNDYNE!”

 

“Yeah, lucky you, kid.” Sans teased, getting a huff from her. “Don’t sweat it, I’ll stick around to make sure things don’t get too out of hand.”

 

Frisk smiled, nodding happily as she flopped over to hug Sans. His texture still really weird to her… But Papyrus was right, it did make him squishy and huggable!

 

\-----

 

The next morning came to Frisk with a bit of a surprise as she blearily opened her eyes to a blue mass sitting on the floor in front of the couch, startling her enough to jerk up and pull the blankets up to her chin. This jolted the mass as well, making it turn to look at her and it was then that she remembered it was Sans.

 

“Whoa… Sorry kiddo, didn’t mean to startle you.” He apologized, smiling up at her before going back to looking down at the floor. The puzzle from the night before was almost complete, it was a thousand piece one too… Had Sans stayed up all night to finish it?

 

“Papyrus stepped out to get some stuff ready for your training with Undyne, he’ll probably bring her back with him on the way.” Sans’ idly said, clicking pieces into each hole until the puzzle was complete. Even with half a boot mark on it. “Huh, pretty nice picture.”

 

Frisk sagged at the reminder, remembering all the other times cooking with Undyne but that had been her house not the skeleton brothers. Meaning potential collateral damage. How did Papyrus and Undyne get any cooking done? Or better yet, how did she still have a house..?

 

“Like I said though, I’ll stick around to make sure the two of you don’t go overboard.”

 

Sans stood up then, wiping dirt off the back of his shorts then moved to take a seat on the couch. Now that he could with Frisk out of the way, the two of them sitting quietly as she stared at him. A question on her tongue. 

 

“Sans?” He perked up, turning to look at her, “Did you sleep at all last night?”

 

“Off and on… It doesn’t really come all that easy to me.” 

 

“Have…you been up the last few nights as well?”

 

“Uh…” His eyes darkened then, chuckling as he shrugged. “Yeah, had to make sure you wouldn’t slip out in the night…” 

 

“Oh.” Frisk mumbled, turning her attention to her lap instead. “Is it ‘cuz of Chara?”

 

“Yeah…” 

 

They sat in awkward silence for a long moment, neither looking at the other until the door was slammed open with Frisk nearly jumping out of her skin. Her head quickly turning to see Undyne and Papyrus walking in with groceries for their training. 

 

“Ah good, you’re up human! Hope you’re ready for some quality best friend training starting now!” Undyne grinned, scooping Frisk right off the couch and under her arm to cart into the kitchen with the other food items. 

 

“NYEH HEH HEH! YOU’RE IN FOR A TREAT HUMAN! UNDYNE’S TRAINING IS SUPERB! THOUGH I GUESS I’LL BE MISSING A DAY OF TRAINING TO LET YOU TWO HAVE YOUR QUALITY TIME…”

 

“Tch, get in here Papyrus. We’re not missing a day on account of this, I can make best friends with this human and teach you at the same time!”

 

“WOWIE! THANKS UNDYNE!” 

 

Sans couldn’t help chuckling, having shifted over to Frisk’s spot to see the kitchen from the couch, resting his head on a hand lazily. This was going to be interesting.

 

“Papyrus, get a stool for the short stack here. They can’t reach the counter to beat up the ingredients for sauce!

 

“ON IT! I THINK WE HAVE TWO AROUND HERE SOMEWHERE.” 

 

“Two you say…” Undyne hummed, rubbing her chin as she turned to look over at Sans watching them. A toothy grin coming to her face once both stools were brought out. “Hey! Blue punk! Get in here! Everyone is getting a training day with me today!!” 

 

“Uh…”

 

“Get in here before I come over there and drag you in by the scruff!!!”

 

Sans didn’t move, gauging whether she would or not only to remember that this was Undyne as she took a step towards him in warning. Then another before all out battle cry charging him, forcing him to get up faster than either Frisk or Papyrus had ever seen him go. 

 

Though it was after dodging the first few lunges at him that he realized two things; 1) He couldn’t use his magic in this body and 2) he couldn’t teleport either. Leaving him unable to maneuver as well as he would have liked in the small area and was caught not long after, carried into the kitchen by a grinning Undyne to be plonked down on the stool next to his brother at the end. 

 

“WOW SANS! I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER SEEN YOU MOVE SO QUICKLY BEFORE!”

 

“Ugh…” Sans groaned, thumping his head on the counter. He had wanted to keep an eye on the lesson not be subjected to it as well…

  
  
  


But all in all, the lesson actually went pretty well. Undyne had gotten on to the subject of how she was trained by Asgore himself and assigned as leader of the Royal Guard to train others while they worked. Undyne had the helm with cooking the noodles and working the stove while Frisk was busily making up meatballs, leaving the skeleton brothers to chop up vegetables for the sauce. A godsend to Sans since seeing Frisk with a knife would have been too much for him. But by the end of it all, they made decent spaghetti with meatballs. No fire and no destruction, just a massive mess that would be dealt with later as they gathered on and around the couch to consume their meal while watching some TV.

 

“Not bad PUNKS! I think we actually made a pretty decent team! This spaghetti is real good!” Undyne praised, making Papyrus blush bashfully. “And we’re besties now, right human!?”

 

Frisk paused in her eating, noodles sticking out of her mouth as she stared up at Undyne. Unsure of what to say as the fish lady smiled, which slowly twitched as they both began to sweat. This wasn’t good… She sucked up her noodles and swallowed them down dryly as that smile disappeared.

 

“...Guess we gotta work on it. Good thing I’ll be here for awhile!” Undyne cackled, allowing Frisk to sink into the couch with relief. “So expect daily training here every morning!” 

  
“WOOO!” Papyrus cheered while both Frisk and Sans’ groans were drowned out.


	7. Anticipation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans finally getting back on track with the plan, or is he?

It wasn’t long until Undyne departed to do her own thing but not before helping with some clean up, getting the dishes done up while Papyrus, Frisk and Sans cleaned the kitchen. Not only making a good team in cooking but clean up as well.

 

“WHAT A GREAT START TO THE DAY!” Papyrus cheered, stretching out on the couch with Frisk and Sans, “WHAT SHALL WE DO NOW?! PUZZLES? TV?”

 

“If it’s all the same to you bro, I was gonna head over to the library to uh, get some reading done.” Sans replied, getting up to head over to the door only to be tailed by the two.

 

“AN EXCELLENT IDEA! LET US ALL GO AND ENJOY A GOOD BOOK!”

 

“Uh, well, it’s not going to be all that exciting… I mean, it’s just a place full of books and-”

 

“PUZZLES! CROSS WORDS!! JUNIOR JUMBLES! IT’LL BE FUN!”

 

“Heh…Alright,  but no complaining when you get bored.” He chuckled, watching Frisk get geared up.

 

“PUH-LEASE, I WON’T GET BORED!”

  
  


The library wasn’t even a minute walk away and it wasn’t even five minutes in when Sans could hear his brother walk up behind him. The short skeleton was up on the ladder skimming a few titles and with a chuckle he didn’t even have to turn to look at Papyrus to know-

 

“I’M BORED…”

 

“Find a book then, or a crossword. I’m going to be here for a bit, maybe most the day if I don’t find what I’m looking for.”

 

“BUT SAAAAANS…”

 

Sighing softly, he turned around on the ladder to look at his younger brother with a soft smile only to notice Frisk behind the other. “I think the kid has something for ya.”

 

“HM?”

 

Frisk held up a book and magazine for Papyrus, who took both curiously only for his eyes to bug out. The book was on fine dining with spaghetti and the magazine was the newest edition of the Mettaton Times, both had him nearly shrieking with delight as he ran over to a lounge chair to read.

 

“Heh, thanks kid.” Sans was about to turn around to continue searching only to feel a tap on his shin, Frisk was staring up at him curiously then motioning to the books. “What am I looking for? ...Just some research material, nothing you’d be interested in.”

 

She frowned, watching him skim over the names of each book with a finger. Occasionally pulling one out to look at before putting it back, obviously looking for something specific.

 

“Why don’t you go find a book kid, that’s what we’re here for right? Reading?”

 

He didn’t even need to look to know she was still there, going off some sort of sense or magic as she sighed loudly then left to find something to read. Leaving Sans to his search while she pulled out a comic book from a small pile and sitting beside Papyrus to read. The taller skeleton looking enthralled with his magazine.

  
  


An hour went by with Frisk and Papyrus finishing their books, both stretching out as they stood up to go find Sans. Who was sitting on top of a shelf and buried in a thick book. Frisk just barely able to make out the title as something along the lines of ‘Ectoplasm and You, getting to know your ghostly friends and the beyond’.

 

“SANS, ME AND THE HUMAN ARE HEADING OUT. ARE YOU COMING?”

 

“Nah, I think I’m good here. Don’t really wanna... **book it** just yet.”

 

Papyrus’ just grit his teeth tight, face pinching up the same way every time Sans made a pun but with that little quirk of a smile that made it worth it to the shorter skeleton. Even if it meant annoying the other to get it.  

 

“NNNN-FINE! JUST BE BACK FOR DINNER!”

 

“Okay, see you guys later.”

 

And right back into the book Sans went as Papyrus and Frisk left, both holding hands while Papyrus huffed. Still annoyed by the pun but smiling all the same as they walked home and just before he opened the door he felt a tug on his hand.

 

“HM? WHAT IS IT HUMAN?”

 

Frisk tugged again, getting him to follow her around the side of the house. Where they found the real Sans, belly down and head nestled in his arms with a light blanket of snow covering his oversized frame.

 

“OH DEAR...I KNOW THE SNOW DOESN’T REALLY BOTHER US BUT I DOUBT HE’D WANT TO COME BACK TO HIMSELF HALF BURIED…” Papyrus hummed, walking over to lightly brush away some snow from Sans’ closed eyes. Looking for all the world to be sleeping than inhabiting a smaller magic made version of himself.

 

Frisk shuffled to the other side, brushing away what she could reach then moved to climb up the fluffy lining of Sans’ hood to get the snow off his head. Both of them getting as much of the powder off the other as they could before Frisk slid off to be caught up in Papyrus’ arms, very proud of themselves.

 

“THAT SHOULD DO FOR NOW. HOPEFULLY IT WON’T SNOW AS MUCH TONIGHT.” He smiled, reaching out with his free hand to rub his brother’s skull. Only to blink when the oversized monster rumbled softly, the permanent frown on Sans face turning up as he shifted his head in his arms comfortably with a happy hum. “AWWW… FOR BEING SO BIG AND IMPOSING, SANS CAN SURE BE CUTE.”

 

“Mhm.” Frisk nodded in agreement, leaning over to pat that large skull herself before they returned to the house. Completely missing one large eye cracking open to watch them go, the massive skeleton huffing but still smiling as he closed it again to get back to reading.  

 

\-----

 

“...Huh?” Sans blinked as Frisk’s eyes peeked over the book at him, grabbing his attention. “Oh...hey kiddo. What are you...wait what time is it?”

 

“Dinnertime.”

 

“Oh...shoot. Guess I lost track of time.” He sighed, glancing at his page number then closing the book to tuck under his arm. “Welp, guess we should head home then. Right after I check out this book.

 

Frisk climbed down the ladder first with Sans following after, taking his book up to the librarian then heading out. Though after only a few steps and not hearing the human child following behind he paused, turning to see what the holdup was as Frisk stared back at him.

 

“Something wrong kid?”

 

She shuffled in place for a moment then took a small step, rubbing her hands together nervously. No mittens but it wasn’t very far to their destination. After another idle second she walked up to Sans and held her hand out to him.

 

“You...wanna hold hand..?” The kid nodded, making Sans raise a brow as he slowly took his free hand out of his pocket, “Well, uh, okay.”

 

What was the harm in it? She seemed to like grabbing Papyrus’ hand when they walked so maybe it wasn’t all that odd. Guess with him always having his hands in his pockets it made it awkward for her to have to ask, though she seemed happy now. Tiny hand clasped to his-

 

“Didn’t think you’d want to hold my…  **skelly-jelly hand** .” He winked, getting a giggle for that one.

 

Glad he could still make at least one person laugh.

 

\-----

 

The next day was greeted to Undyne smashing in the door at ten sharp, instantly waking Frisk up with a surprised cry along with Sans jerking from his spot on the floor. Same as the night before only with his book three quarters of the way through on his lap as he glared up at the rowdy fish woman.

 

Though while she scooped up a sleepy Frisk, he had taken the distraction to sneak up to his room to continue reading, quickly locking the door behind him with a sigh. He was almost finished the book, a cooking lesson with Undyne wasn’t going to delay him but he still kept a cyan eye out for any trouble down below. There may not be any magic behind it but he could still watch them.

 

And at least he only got up once to witness a small fire that was easily extinguished while Papyrus flailed about. Frisk taking initiative in smashing a tomato over the tiny blaze on the counter much to Undyne’s delight as the fruit was scraped into the sauce pot for extra flavouring. Unfortunately the fish lady noticed his presence and all but lunged at him, cackling as she carted Sans in once more. Much to his annoyance but at least they were mostly done and he could just lean on the countertop lazily.

 

Another successful training day and apparently more to come as Undyne loudly exclaimed, still not besties with Frisk just yet but getting there! Something about feeling it in her fins. Either way, Sans was back to his book and finishing it up in time for dinner, sitting with Paps and Frisk in front of the TV for some quality bonding time over Mettaton Drama hour.

 

After which Papyrus and Frisk begged for a bedtime story, both of them tucked away in Papyrus’ little race car bed and snuggled in. He couldn’t exactly refuse with both of them giving him big eyes, especially Frisk. They were pretty big when she actually opened them.

 

Halfway through the story, Papyrus was already out cold and snoring up a storm. Making him chuckle as Frisk wiggled her way to freedom.

 

“Want me to finish the story downstairs?” Sans offered, moving to stand up from his seat only to raise a brow as she shook her head. “No? Don’t like my reading voice?”

 

She shook her head again, “Couch is lumpy…”

 

“Oh… Yeah, Undyne complained about that too...Uh.” He thought a moment, rubbing his chin, “You… Wanna try my bed? I’m not really going to be using it anymore, or my room for that matter.”

 

Frisk had this look about her that seemed both surprised and unsure about the offer, Sans’ room was sacred. This would be the second look inside of it let alone being allowed to stay in it but it couldn’t be any worse than the couch. Hopeful, as she nodded. Both of them heading downstairs to pick up the spare pillow and blanket for her to use since his were bundled up in a pile which was quickly shoved off to lay out a clean sheet.

 

“There ya go kid, one bed of average quality.”

 

She smiled at that, tossing on the pillow and blanket before climbing up onto what amounted to a few mattresses stacked on top of each other. Settling in quite nicely, she cozied up under the blanket, signalling to Sans that she was ready for the rest of the story. Which he didn’t even finish before Frisk was out like a light and curled up into a tight little ball. Funny considering she now had more space to spread out on the bed than she did the couch. It gave Sans the room to sit on the end of the bed with his own book in hand, watching Frisk sleep for a minute before opening up the book again.

 

He may have read it from start to finish but there were still a few areas he needed to go over again. To be sure he had a good enough theory to go on.

 

\------

 

“Quality besties time again!!” Undyne shouted as she kicked in the front door, smiling widely and expecting to find Frisk on the couch only to frown. “Hey Papyrus! Where’s the human?! It’s training time!”

 

“I’M ACTUALLY NOT SURE… I HAVEN’T SEEN SANS AROUND EITHER.” The tall skeleton hummed, already in the kitchen prepping for training time. “MAYBE THEY’RE OUTSIDE PLAYING?”

 

“UGHH, that punk is cutting into me and the human’s best friend time!” She scowled, trudging outside to go find them. Which took all of five seconds as she found the human out back with Sans. Big Sans…

 

He had a blanket over his hand with Frisk lying tummy down in his palm, her little legs lazily kicking back and forth behind her as she boredly leaned her head on her folded arms, yawning after a moment while Sans seemed to poke at her back with his free hand. From what Undyne could tell, he would poke at her in various places then move on to lightly pinching at her clothing. Not enough to pick her up but enough to tug her sweater then letting it slip through his fingers. Weirdest, and eerie, part was the glowing red eye glaring a hole through the human as it let off  red vapours into the air.

 

She shook out of the shock after watching for a minute then stomped up to the two with a shout,

“Hey PUNK! It’s training time, I need the human!”

 

Both turned to look at her but it was Sans to narrow his eye. She shouldn’t have even been intimidated by it, the skeleton was lying stomach down and propped up on his elbows to handle the human. Just that blood red eye boring through her soul...making her take a small step back but still glaring. Narrowing her own eye.

 

“...You’ll get her when I’m done.” Sans finally said, eyes returning to normal.

 

“What?! No way! I’ve been here the last two days at the same time! You’re not cutting into BESTIES time!”

 

“Schedule it later then, I’m busy…” He turned his attention to Frisk, frowning at her back.

 

Undyne ground her teeth in annoyance, hands balling into tight fists, itching to pull out a spear. More than ready to leap at Sans with no regret and somehow gouge out those eyes but she wasn’t stupid. Getting sent flying the other day in full armor with little effort on his part was warning enough for her.

 

“FINE! But I’m waiting here until you’re finished!” She ground out while stubbornly folding her arms.

 

Sans eyes flickered to her for a second before going back to Frisk, red eye returning along with his prodding fingers. Like he was looking for something on the human, something important as his focus was filled with deadly intent.

 

It had shivers going up and down Undyne’s spine as she watched his hand drift up and down the human’s body carefully. Glad she wasn’t on that end but still curious as she cocked her head, “What are you-”

 

“Shh!” Sans hissed.

 

He made a few more plucking motions that didn’t seem to phase the human in the least, who looked incredibly bored but stayed still for Sans. Even as he suddenly jerked his fingers over her lower spine and pinched them shut, a red glow forming around his thumb and index finger.

 

“Gotcha…” He growled darkly.

 

Undyne’s eye widened as she caught a brief flash of a sinister smile flickering over that massive face. Not that he wasn’t smiling now but the other one was filled with the purest of malice as he slowly pulled his pinched fingers away, pulling some sort of black mass out with it.

 

Her arms dropped then, open and ready to fight whatever the hell he was dragging out of the human. Or would have been if it weren’t for the soft whimpering she could hear coming from his hand, noticing now that their human was clutching at her chest and crying.

 

“H-hey! Stop! Whatever you’re doing is hurting the human!” She shouted, stalking up to Sans until she was level with that hand. But apparently he wasn’t listening, intensely focused on pulling out that mass as Frisk squirmed.

 

Further and further that dark mass was pulled out, beginning to take shape as Sans was tugging on what looked to be a leg while the other one kicked out violently. Whatever it was wanted to stay in, making it difficult to drag out as he pulled harder which had Frisk whimpering louder. And was still being ignored as a firmer tug had her shrieking with pain.

 

“I SAID KNOCK IT OFF!!”

 

Summoning up a spear, Undyne leapt on top of Sans hand and drove the pointed tip into the back of the other, forcing him to let go of that black mass with a pained gasp as it snapped right back into Frisk. All his work gone in an instant and his anger flared up just as fast. Cyan eye surging to life in picking Undyne up, slamming her down to the frozen ground, and holding her there.

 

“ **Y O U  R U I N E D  I T! ! !** ”

 

“Y-you were hurting them!!” Undyne gasped out, winded as she struggled to get out of the magical hold.

 

Sans brows furrowed then, turning his fury filled attention from Undye to Frisk only for his eyes to widen in fear. The poor kid was on her side clutching at her chest, knees curled in tight enough to make her look so small in the palm of his hand as she sobbed softly into the blanket. Her entire body shaking.

 

He dropped his magical hold on the fish lady then, lowering his hand to the ground as his eyes disappeared. “I’m done...take her…”

 

Undyne groaned as she got up, shaking off the snow and pain running through her as she went up to that hand. Her eye narrowed darkly at Sans the entire time she bundled the human child up in the blanket and picked her up, surprised when Frisk wrapped short arms around her neck and hid away in her collar bone. One last glare in the large skeleton’s direction and she returned to the house, taking up a seat on the couch with the human still clinging to her.

 

“WHAT HAPPENED?!” Papyrus shouted in panic, quickly running up to kneel down in front of the couch. “IS THE HUMAN ALRIGHT!?”

 

“Your new IDIOT of a brother hurt the human!”

 

“WH-WHAT?! IMPOSSIBLE! SANS WOULD NE- HE’S BEEN THE ONE PROTECTING THE HUMAN! WHY WOULD HE- HOW DID HE HURT HER..?”

 

“He was pulling some sort of black thing out of her and then she started crying and whimpering. I had to put a spear in his hand to get him to stop!”

 

“BLACK THING?”

 

“Yeah, it was coming out of her back.”

 

Curious, Papyrus gently pulled the blanket from around Frisk to take a look, seeing nothing he lifted up her sweater and frowned when he saw nothing on her back there either. Letting the sweater drop back down he returned the blanket over the human child’s shaking shoulders.

 

“THERE’S NOTHING THERE NOW…”

 

“Whatever it was, he really wanted to get it out…”

 

“...I’LL GO HAVE A WORD WITH HIM.” He sighed, standing up and heading for the door.

 

“Alright, me and the human will chill here for a bit. Right?” Undyne grinned at Frisk, getting a small nod and sniffle as Papyrus left. “Good, you’re feeling better already. Pretty tough for a runt.”

 

Frisk giggled at that, the sound warming her heart.

 

“Means you and me are still going to have another day of training! Once you’re up to it that is, wouldn’t want to push ya too hard after that. Sounded painful... You alright? Any damage?”

 

The human shook her head but did point to her chest, rubbing the area before covering it up again with her hands.

 

“Your chest? Still hurts eh? Well whatever he was pulling on might have been connected to something in there to make it hurt…the punk…” Undyne grumbled, “He tries that again and I’ll separate his head from his body!”

 

Frisk gasped, bringing up a hand to her mouth.

 

“What!? No one gets away with hurting my friends!” She snarled, teeth bared only to pause. “Wait… Does this mean we’re besties now?”

 

Little arms hugging tighter around her neck seemed to be more than an affirmative as she laughed, hugging the other back tight. Grinning widely and uncaring if she looked ridiculous.

 

\-----

 

Crunching through sticky snow, Papyrus came to a stop in front of his brother, taking a moment to look the other up and down. Sans was on his back with an arm slung over his eyes, not even moving as Papyrus cleared his throat.

 

“SANS…”

 

Nothing.

 

“SANS, WHAT HA-”

 

“It was an accident…” Sans spoke up, voice alone racked with guilt.

 

“I FIGURED AS MUCH, BUT WHAT WERE YOU DOING? UNDYNE SAID YOU WERE PULLING SOMETHING BLACK OUT OF THE HUMAN.”

 

The arm over Sans’ face pulled away to flop limply to the snow with a thump as he tilted his head towards Papyrus, eyes filled with a mix of surprise and confusion.

 

“She could see it..?” He asked, pausing a few seconds to think, “My magic must have made her visible…”

 

“HER? SANS WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO DO? YOU UPSET THE HUMAN!”

 

“I- I know I did… I messed up and need to apologize to the kid later…” Sans sighed greatly, shaking his head, “As for the what, it’s… complicated.”

 

“THEN UNCOMPLICATE IT FOR ME.”

 

“Bro… I… It’s…”

 

“Sans…” Papyrus raised up a hand to stop him, “I know we’ve just started to be brothers towards each other but I feel we haven’t really done anything to really make it feel like we are. We haven’t bonded or talked, which is mostly due to having a human around to watch over but… I want to be there for you. I want you to trust me…”

 

“Paps I do trus-”

 

“Do you?” He interrupted, raising a brow, “If you did, you would be telling me what you were doing with the human. Not making up some lame excuse about me not understanding, I’m not stupid Sans…”

 

“Crossword puzzles?”

 

“THOSE ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT AND BORING!” Papyrus brought up a gloved hand to his forehead, clearing his head, “That is beside the point… Sans, brother, you may know everything there is to know about me but unlike my Sans, I know so little about you. You’re different, you’re new, and I just want to get to know you on a level that you know me. I want to understand what you’re doing and help you out in anyway possible. You don’t have to do, whatever it is you’re doing alone.”

 

“Bro…”

 

“Please Sans,” He opened his arms up, smiling, “Let me in. Let me help you.”

  
“D-damnit Paps…” Sans laughed weakly, bringing up the heel of his hand to rub away a few errant tears as he rolled to his side. “You- You’re definitely not the same as my bro… but I guess we’ll both be learning about each other on the same level...heh. Alright, I’ll tell you what’s going on. From the beginning.”


	8. Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A certain someone is back, and not happy to have almost died. 'What the hell Frisk!?'

“...and then Undyne jumped in with her spear out and jabbed me in the back of the hand, making me pretty much release Chara back into Frisk. I got pretty mad at her for that, threw her to the ground but she was right, I was too busy trying to get rid of Chara to even notice the kid was in pain…” Sans sighed, rubbing at his head. “That’s twice now I’ve been blinded by my own vengeance…”

 

“You were only doing what you perceived to be right Sans. Your job is all about judgement after all.”

 

“I know… And Chara is the one who needs to be executed but I can’t do that while she’s hiding away in Frisk… I almost had her to but it was too much for the kid.”

 

“Hmm…” Papyrus hummed, arms folded but bringing one hand up to rub his chin. “If I’m remembering this correctly and Chara is some sort of evil spirit then she must be attached to something in Frisk to allow her to stay rooted. Like the training dummies by Undyne’s place...  Frisk was holding her chest when she started to hurt, right?”

 

“Y-yeah… She was curled up tight and clutching at the center. Poor kid looked like she was in agony…”

 

“...Ghosts and spirits sometimes need something physical to latch onto to hold their existence in this world, what if Chara is holding on to Frisk’s soul?”

 

Sans eyes widened, realization dawning on him. No wonder Frisk was in so much pain, if Chara had her claws around that little red heart who knows the damage he would have caused ripping both out.

 

“I am the biggest idiot around…” He groaned, covering his face with both hands.

 

“Well… You’re certainly the biggest something around. Pain in the butt comes to mind but not idiot.”

 

“Heh heh heh… Thanks bro…” Sighing softly, Sans pulled his hands away from his face as he smiled at Papyrus, “Can’t believe I didn’t think of that, but then again. You were always better at solving puzzles.”

 

“Nyeh heh heh heh! Of course, for I am the great Papyrus! But that still leaves the question of how you’ll be getting Chara extracted from Frisk’s soul?”

 

“I think I’ve got a better idea now on how to do it. And possibly with help from a cool brother?”

 

“Need you ask, brother?” Papyrus grinned.

 

\-----

 

‘ _ He almost killed me… Frisk, I almost died…! You were going to let that bastard do it too! Why would you do that?! You need me Frisk! Are you even listening to me! _ ?’

 

“Hey runt? You listening? Pass the salt.”

 

Frisk just barely made out Undyne’s voice through the one ranting away in the back of her mind, blinking up at the fish lady before passing over the salt. She turned her attention back to chopping up more onion, eyes watering but not just from the fumes.

 

‘ _ You think he’ll just stop at killing me?! You think he’ll be satisfied?! He’s turned into some sort of blood thirsty monster now, hell bent on revenge! _ ’

 

‘But Sans is…’

 

“ _ Is what?? Nice? Kind?! He almost ate you!! _ ’

 

She shivered, remembering all too well.

 

“That’s probably enough onion…” Undyne suddenly said, staring at the massive pile of chopped pieces, “You okay? Ya seem pretty distracted from training… Is it cuz of what happened earlier?”

 

Frisk shakily shook her head, holding the knife in both hands in front of her. Only to place it down and rub away the tears in her eyes.

 

“Hey, it’s alright, kid. Ya got scared, it’s natural after being hurt but ya gotta just pick yourself up and keep going. What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger! And believe me, after being knocked around twice by that punk, I think I’ve only gotten tougher.”

 

The toothy smile from Undyne was infectious, making Frisk smile back with renewed vigor.

 

“There’s my tough runt! This experience has only made us stronger! Now let’s use this strength to finish strong so pass over those onions!”

 

Giggling, Frisk pushed over the cutting board of onions only to stare in shock as the entirety of it was tossed in with the sauce. Looks like a strong batch today…

 

‘ _ Take the knife. _ ’

 

‘W-what?’

 

‘ _ Take the knife! Use it to defend yourself next time! No one is going to mess with you if you have a knife _ !’

 

She shakily reached for the knife used for cutting up the onion only to withdraw it away and shake her head.

 

‘I- I don’t need a knife, I can just reason with-’

 

‘ _ You think you can reason with Sans when he’s angry!? _ ’

 

It was then that Frisk’s mind was taken to a whole new world, one through Chara’s point of view with her trying to show mercy to Sans in what she recognized as the Judgement Hall. Only for his eye to flash cyan and a barrage of bones to come up through the ground to unrelentingly pierce right through her body and soul. All of which was followed by that familiar deep voice, so full of fury, telling her to ‘Geeeeettttt dunked on!’ before she was back and gripping the countertop.

 

‘ _ Oh? Saw that did you? Think he’ll be so easily reasoned with now? Huh? Think he’ll show any MERCY?? Well have a look at this! And this! _ ’

 

Her mind was assaulted with scenario after scenario of so many deaths by Sans. From Gaster Blasters to Karmatic Retribution to bones a plenty to just being tossed around like a ragdoll, it was all starting to be too much for her as she shook, feeling sick to her stomach. There was so much brutality to the short skeleton’s attack, she would have never even dreamed of him having so much power under that fluffy coat.

 

‘ _ That’s not even the worst part… Here’s from our newest Sans, the one you know and love oh so much… _ ’

 

“N-no… s-st-stop…”

 

“Huh?” Undyne stopped shaking more salt into the sauce to look at Frisk then the shaker. “Eh, you’re probably right, just wanted to even out the flavour with all that onion in it.”

 

**U L T R A  S A N S**

 

“S-STOP!” Frisk grabbed at her head then, tearing up and unable to stop watching the scenes to play out.

 

“Whoa, kid?! What’s wrong??” Undyne worriedly asked, gently grabbing Frisk by the shoulders. Though could see that the human wasn’t even looking at her, eyes blown so wide with fear and staring off into nothing.“Kid?? RUNT!? Wake up!”

 

“UNDYNE?” Papyrus called out, just now walking into the house with blue Sans. “WHY ARE YOU YELLING?”

 

“Something’s wrong with the human! She’s not answering me!!”

 

“FRISK!?”

 

The skeleton brothers were quick to approach just as Frisk’s dilated eyes focused, turning to the foot steps and landing on Sans, seeing only the Judgement Hall vision of him, and instantly screamed while tumbling out of Undyne’s grip then off the stool to the ground. They hadn’t expected such a violent reaction, stopping just outside of the kitchen as she crawled desperately back and away to bump against the tall sink with a heavy thud.

 

“Frisk, what’s wrong?” Sans asked, looking behind himself to see if anyone had followed them in only to realize those huge scared eyes were on him. And only him. “K-kid?” ‘ **Kids like you...should be burning in hell!** ’

 

Frisk backed up harder into the cupboard, digging her spine and shoulder blades painfully into the wood to get away. Her chest rising and falling erratically, only to scream even louder when Sans tried to take a step forward.

 

“C-calm down, tell us what’s wrong-” He tried, raising up his hands to show he meant no harm. Carefully watching as she slowly got up on shaking legs, panic filled eyes never straying from his.

 

‘ _ Run...escape, get away... _ ’

 

Sans brows furrowed, recognition crossing his features as if he heard something.

 

‘ _ But get the knife..! _ ’

 

His eyes widened then, catching Frisk’s eyes dart off to the side for a split second. He looked for himself and felt his soul sink, there was a knife on the counter…

 

“Frisk… Whatever she’s told you is a lie…”

 

‘ _ Don’t listen to him! He’s the one lying! Defend yourself! Get the knife! _ ’

 

“Don’t get the knife!” Sans shouted, red eye lighting up. He needed to see and hear Chara better, deflect her words and defuse the situation but she had the upper hand. Fueling Frisk’s fear with whispered words in her ear, building her up into something unstable. Long before he had even arrived.

 

‘ _ His eye is red!! He’s going to attack! _ ’

 

Frisk sprang for the knife then, grabbing it up in shaking hands as she held it up and out towards the three monsters. Forcing Undyne to back right up beside Sans and Papyrus as they stared in shock at their sweet little human looking so desperately scared.

 

‘ _ Now tell them to get out of the way! _ ’

 

“M-mm- mo-”

 

‘ _ Fine! I’ll do it! _ ’

 

“ _ Get out of my way or I’ll run you all through! _ ”

 

“W-what the hell is going on!?” Undyne finally blurted out, looking between Frisk and Sans in mild confusion.

 

“We’ll explain later…”

 

“SANS… SHOULD WE LET HER…”

 

“No, hold your ground. We can’t let her leave...”

 

“ _ I said move _ !” She waved the knife about with practised ease. A dark look in her eyes that told them this wasn’t Frisk anymore. “ _ Last chance… _ ”

 

Neither one of them budged an inch, instead they braced for combat. Irking the human child in front of them as she took up her own stance with her red soul popping out, eyes flowing between each monster before landing on Papyrus. A small smirk her only warning before lunging at the tall skeleton.

 

She was going for an easy kill…

 

Or would have been if Sans hadn’t stepped out in front of her to take the hit, the blade driving deep into his body with a weird squelch. It was even being twisted and pushed deeper in by a grinning Chara.

 

“SANS!”

 

“...Heh” 

 

She didn’t seem to like his chuckle, head whipping up to look at his grinning face as he grabbed her by the forearm holding the knife and pulled her hand deeper into him. His gelatinous form snapping around it and holding her in place, amusing him more as she frantically placed her other hand against him to pull her arm out only to have it sucked in along with the other.

 

“Hey bro, more health. I gave myself a boost after being skewered by Undyne the other day.”

 

Papyrus let out a deep sigh of relief to go along with a faint laugh as he shook his head. “HONESTLY SANS…”

 

“Don’t worry about it.” Sans grinned at his brother before turning it to the struggling child still trapped in his form, looking like some sort of caged wild animal than a human.

 

Though with some effort he was able to pry away the knife from her trapped hand and let it drop out of his back to the floor with a clatter then reached up to grab the back of her head to force their eyes to meet. Mere inches away from each other as his eyes blazed.

 

“ **G e t  o u t. . .** ” He growled deeply, getting a defiant glare back. “Get out of Frisk… Or I’ll take you outside and pull you from her myself…”

 

That got the desired reaction as Chara stared at him wide eyed before skulking out and hiding away, leaving behind their human. Who took one look at him and wailed.

 

“P-Papyrus, take Frisk!”

 

Papyrus nodded, circling around to gently pick up Frisk around the waist and pull her out of Sans. To which she whirled around to wrap her arms around his neck and muffle her crying into his shoulder as he swiftly took her out of the kitchen and up to his room.

 

“What just happened!? And who the heck is Frisk?!”

 

Sans sighed, rubbing his head, “Frisk is the human’s name. And it looks like she’s scared of me now…”

 

“Tch, you hurt her, idiot.”

 

“No… This is much worse than just accidentally hurting her, she’s been scarred.”

 

“Well you better explain what’s going on!” Undyne frowned only for her attention to turn to the stove, rushing over to salvage the burning sauce and overcooked noodles, “Ugh! Explain while we finish this!”

 

“What? Are you kidding me?”

 

“I don’t KID around! Papyrus and… Frisk are busy, you’re here and we’re going to finish training!!”

 

“Alright, alright! What’s left to do?” The blue skeleton resigned himself to the kitchen for the rest of training and explained to Undyne the situation at hand.

 

\-----

 

“...So now Frisk is deathly terrified of you because of something that Chara punk told her? Tch, what could you do that would scare her?” Undyne scoffed, placing spaghetti and sauce into four bowls.

 

“You don’t wanna know…”

 

“Whatever the case, you need to get that punk out of our human!” She frowned, skewering forks forcefully into each bowl then handing two to Sans, “Here! Help me take these up for Papyrus and the kid.”

 

“I- I don’t think that’s a very good idea…”

 

“Well she can’t stay scared of you forever! She’ll soon realize that you’re nothing more than some blue squishy thing to hug.”

 

“And my true form?” Sans raised a brow, getting a shrug from Undyne as she headed out with two bowls of her own.

 

“Eh, you’re not that scary.”

 

He sighed, shaking his head. If only she knew…Following the fish lady up the stairs, he jumped when she booted in the door and waltzed right into Papyrus’ room with a huge grin on her face. No tact or consideration here....

 

“Spaghetti is up PUNKS!”

 

“SHH! FRISK IS ASLEEP!” Papyrus shushed loudly, cradling the human against him as he laid out on his racecar bed. “BUT THANK YOU. COULD YOU PUT OUR BOWLS ON THE TABLE OVER THERE, PLEASE?”

 

“Sure thing bro.” There was a hint of relief in Sans voice, not exactly wanting to listen to Frisk scream in terror again over just looking at him.

 

Undyne took a seat on the floor after they both offered up a bowl to the action figure table, taking a bite of the spaghetti and making a face. Obviously not their best work but it didn’t stop her from eating it anyways before pointing her fork at Sans.

 

“So…” She started between chewing, “What’s the plan for pulling that evil spirit punk out?”

 

“There’s not going to be a plan if I can’t even get Frisk to stop screaming everytime she looks at me. If I try to pull out Chara now, it might be more harm than good with her struggling. She has to trust me…”

 

“WHICH ISN’T LIKELY TO HAPPEN AT THE MOMENT…”

 

“No… And probably not for awhile yet.”

 

“We could always put you two in a room together and lock the door.” Undyne suggested, stuffing more spaghetti into her mouth. Barely batting an eye when both skeletons frowned at her. “What? The kid can either be scared all her life of you and be made worse the longer we wait with that punk in her or we can try some tough love with you two working it out.”

 

“SHE’S… NOT WRONG…”.

 

“She’s not right either…” Sans’ frowned.

 

“What other choices do you have? Huh?! It’s either leave it and let it get worse or rip the bandaid off and get it over with!”

 

“But…” Sans bowed his head, looking at the floor with a frown, “What if I only make it worse..”

 

“What if you make it better?” Undyne shot back, “Listen, punk, I’ve seen your files- Well Papyrus’ brother’s files, whatever, in Alphys lab, I know how smart he was and you’re probably not too different than him. What I’m saying is, you’ll figure it out. You’re not stupid, I mean… You made it this far on your own.”

 

“...SANS?” Papyrus murmured, watching his brother mull it over for a solid minute before looking up at him.

 

“...Alright, give me the kid.” He said after some consideration, walking over to Papyrus to hold his arms out. With some shuffling, Frisk was gently transferred to Sans arms with her head resting on his shoulder, snuggling up to him in her sleep. “Heh...wish me luck.”

 

“GOOD LUCK BROTHER!” Papyrus smiled, waving the other off before scooting over to get his spaghetti. One bite was all that needed to tell him why Undyne looked so displeased. “OH...WOW…”

 

“I got distracted!! Throw me a bone!”

 

“THAT IS NOT FUNNY!” He shouted when he could hear Sans’ laughing down the hallway.

 

\-----

 

Moaning softly, Frisk slowly opened her eyes with a few slow blinks, staring up at the ceiling of the room. She felt strangely comfy, not something to expect when falling asleep in Papyrus’ arms but figured he had left her on the bed to rest as she turned her head to the  left. Only to be greeted to a bland wall.

 

Her brows furrowed in confusion, wasn’t she in Papyrus’ room? A look to her right had her heart beat picking up, catching sight of a treadmill and dresser. Sans’ treadmill and dresser. She was in Sans room…

 

Gulping down a wave of terror, she slowly moved to sit up on the bed only to freeze in place as something made a strange sound. Her eyes darting about the room only to find the blue form of Sans sitting in the corner to the right of the door reading a book, making her heart stop for a split second before going into overdrive. His eyes flicked up from the page and she opened her mouth to-

 

“Don’t scream…” ‘ **Dirty brother ki-** ’ “Please.”

 

Her mouth quickly closed shut, leaving her to stare in wide eyed horror at him instead as she backed up into the corner. The pillow was snatched up to hug close to her chest as they held eye contact for what felt like an eternity until he looked back down at his book, turning to the next page. The sound she had heard earlier. 

 

They were both in adjacent corners, the furthest distance from each other in the small room but it still felt too close for comfort to Frisk. Memories came surging back to the forefront of her mind, reminding her of the terrible things Sans could do.

 

‘ _ You mean would do! To us! _ ’ Chara hissed, ‘ _ We’re defenceless right now, we should make a run for it! _ ’

 

Frisk nodded but was frozen in place, moving meant getting closer to the skeleton but it also meant freedom and a means of getting away. So she took it. Slowly crawling her way to the end of the bed, she pressed against the wall to stay as far away from the other as possible while her teary eyes kept tabs on him with each step closer to the door. He didn’t seem to care, flipping through a few pages then settling on a section as she reached for the door knob and-

 

It was locked…

 

“Door knob’s been flipped around.”

 

She jumped, backing into the opposite corner. He wasn’t even looking at her.

 

“We’re locked in here.”

 

Frisk’s eyes grew impossibly wide as she stared at him in mute horror before frantically looking around the room for an exit. Her eyes landing on the window. She could probably fit but being on the second floor…

 

“Please, don’t try to jump out the window kid… I don’t know if I’d be able to catch you in time and I don’t wanna see you getting hurt over some sort of misunderstanding.”

 

‘ _ He’s lying! He’d hurt us in a heartbeat! _ ’

 

“NO!” Sans slammed the book closed, causing Frisk to shriek as she held a hand over her poor heart. “No… I wouldn’t hurt you Frisk. I’d never want to hurt you on purpose.”

 

‘ _ He hurt you this morning! _ ’

 

“I know I did… And I want to apologize for doing that to you kid. I’m sorry, I never meant to hurt you. There’s no excuse in the world for my actions and I don’t expect you to forgive me for them either.” The tone of his voice was full of guilt and regret over what he had done to her as his gaze shifting back down to his book, unable to look at Frisk without feeling horrible. He opened the book back up, finding a different page to start reading and leaving the kid to calm down on her own.

 

Little by little, her breathing and heart rate returned back to normal if still feeling a sense of fear in her chest, grasping tight as she returned to the bed to hug the pillow. There wasn’t much else to do in Sans’ room, it wasn’t as well decorated or organized as Papyrus’ or even as interesting.

 

“Hey...”

 

She backed into the wall with a thump.

 

“There’s a bowl of leftover spaghetti on the dresser if you’re hungry, not the stuff you made today. It kind of got ruined… But uh… Whenever you’re ready to talk, about what Chara told you about me, I’ll be here. Waiting…” Sans coughed awkwardly, looking up at her for a second then away. “I mean… We’re not really going anywhere and I’m more than willing to clear this all up with you, kid.”

 

Frisk remained silent, watching Sans sit in his corner with his book. Looking so unassuming and harmless.

 

‘ _ Hiding his true colours. _ ’

 

She settled her head on the pillow on her knees, shivering faintly while a few memories were forced into her mind as a reminder. A reason not to trust the monstrous skeleton but the longer he did nothing… 

Doubt started to flit through her mind, were those images even real? Could Chara make up such things on her own? They did seem real enough to not come out of nowhere but looking at Sans…

 

He was so friendly and goofy…

 

Sighing softly, Frisk eyed the bowl of spaghetti on the dresser. Sick as she was of the pasta, it was the only option at the moment and she was hungry so slowly she got up to retrieve the bowl of noodles and sauce. A cautious sniff and it must have been the batch they made a few days ago. With everyone in the kitchen...even Sans.

 

She glanced over at him then as he slowly flipped a page, head on one fist. He must have read that book a few times by now, his eyes only skimming the lines though paused. Those points of light, the only thing animate about that blue body, slowly shifted to look at her from the corner of his socket.

 

They held each other’s gaze for what felt like an eternity, his filled with worry while hers still held on to some fear but it was slipping away the longer they kept eye contact. Frisk broke away first, turning down to her food as she picked up the fork to twirl on some noodles to consume while heading back over to the bed to sit on the edge.

 

It still tasted just as good as the day they had made it as she let out a happy little moan with each mouthful. Brightening her mood and current situation. The only way out was to talk to Sans…

 

He was still looking at her when she gazed up at him, had he even went back to his book? His index finger was tapping idly at the book cover as he sat stiffer than before, was he nervous? Maybe he really didn’t want to hurt her or make things worse…

 

‘ _Yes he does! He’s a horrible monster!_ ’Chara insisted. ‘ _Don’t talk to him Frisk! It’s all a trick!_ _Frisk!!_ ’

 

“S-Sans..?”

 

The skeleton immediately closed the book and set it aside, his full attention on her now though still nervous as he forced a smile. “Y-yeah?”

 

“H-have you... Did…uh…”

 

“Take your time, kid.”

 

Frisk nodded, biting her lip as she held her bowl in a tight, if shaky grip, “In...the Judgement Hall, d-did you really k-k-kill me?”

 

His eyes widened before going out as he chuckled breathlessly, bringing up a hand to his head. Then shaking it.

 

“No, not you kiddo but… I have killed Chara in there multiple times in less than pretty ways.” Sans confessed. “Is that what she told you? About our fights?”

 

“Sh-she showed me…”

 

He choked on a gasp, eyes coming back with a horrified expression on his face. It was any wonder she was so scared of him...

 

“Frisk… Th- that fight was between me and Chara, I would never, e v e r, want to do what I did to her to you. You don’t deserve it, she did. She…” There was a pause, his eyes suddenly hardening as he moved to stand up slowly, “Did she show you why we were fighting?”

 

“Uh..” Frisk flinched back, shaking her head as she scooted back only to bump into the bed.

 

“She’s done a lot of terrible things to deserve all those deaths, all those outcomes…”

 

‘ _ D-don’t listen to him..! _ ’

 

“She killed Toriel. Papyrus. Undyne. Mettaton. And any other monster to cross her path, to me…”

 

‘ _ H-h-he’s lying! _ ’

 

“Am I? You were going to kill my brother this morning…”

 

‘ _ Hah, brother, don’t make me laugh… _ ’

 

Sans growled, clenching his fists tight but stayed in place. Only to unclench them as Frisk spoke up,

 

“Y-you killed Mom..?” Her eyes watering as her hands trembled.

 

‘ _ No! _ ’

 

“Who’s lying now?” He chuckled, taking the few steps needed to stand before Frisk, “Why don’t you show her that? Everyone you killed, since you had no problems with showing her our fight.”

 

‘ _ You mother fu-! _ ’

 

“ **S h o w  h e r !** ” Sans snarled, reaching out to place the palm of his hand to her forehead as his eye turned red.

 

And just like that Frisk was flooded with each and every brutal murder Chara went through with, all of which zipped by so quickly it was nauseating to watch until the very last one lingered for a second longer than the rest. Sans’ death.

 

When it was over, she found herself crying and Sans was a step away from her with hands in his pockets. He wasn’t looking at her, head turned away, but instead of the terrifying blurred reality of a sharp tooth grin to go with malice in his cyan eye it was of him clutching his bleeding chest, blood dripping from his mouth and forcing a smile. Like he still believed in her when it was still Chara in control.

 

“Sans…” He looked up then and gasped as Frisk all but launched herself at him, dropping the bowl of spaghetti to the floor as he staggered to stay upright while she hugged him tight with a mantra of choked apologizes, “I-I’m sorry! Sans, I’m so sorry! I’m sorry!”

 

She sobbed against his chest, muffling out apology after apology as Sans hugged her back. Barely able to get a word in as she whimpered.

 

“Hey...hey, shhh… Shhh, Frisk, it’s okay. It’s not your fault, none of this is. You don’t need to-”

 

“I let it happen!” She wailed, making him flinch.

 

“K-kid…” The blue skeleton unwrapped his arms from around her back, slipping his hands under her armpits and gently lifted her up while pulling her away from him. Her eyes wide and weepy at his strength while she hung limply from his hold as he smiled up at her. “Don’t beat yourself up over it… You didn’t know and if it makes you feel any better... I forgive you.”

 

Frisk hiccuped softly, nose runny and tears still falling freely as her face scrunched up before she desperately reached out to him with a weak little kick of her legs. He obliged her silent request and brought her back to him to hug, finding her arms quickly around his neck and her legs firmly wrapped about his waist to cling to him tight like a koala as she cried.

 

It took Sans little effort to carry her over to the bed, seating himself on the edge while he stroked her back soothingly. Letting her cry herself out if she wanted to as he breathed in a deep sigh of relief. Guess he would have to thank Undyne later…

 

“Sans?” He perked up, looking down at Frisk. “I… I forgive you too.”

 

“Heh heh… Aw kid, thanks.”

 

“E-even when you tried to eat me…”

 

“Ohhhh… Uh, s-sorry… You really don’t have to forgive me for that one…” He grimaced.

 

She giggled, giving him a squeeze before falling into a calm silence broken only by a few sniffles. Both happy and content. At least until Frisk pulled away to point at the upended bowl on the floor with a sad frown.

 

“That? It’s fine, room’s already a mess. What’s a little extra colour.” He shrugged, “Unless you’re still hungry? Hm? No? Just tired I bet, it is late…”

 

The child nodded in agreement, rubbing away the drying tears on her cheeks but didn’t move from him. Instead wrapped her arms back around his neck and cuddled into his shoulder, nuzzling a cheek to it as he made a surprised sound.

 

“Ghk..! K-kid? I’m not a bed…”

 

“Comfy.”

 

“B-but..” She was having none of it, cinching her arms and legs around him tighter to stay where she was. “...fine. Just for tonight.”

 

Sans sighed in defeat, hearing a cheeky giggle on his left side but gave up on dealing with it. He instead moved to sit fully on the bed with the pillow tucked behind his lower back for comfort and better leverage to lean back for the Frisk’s comfort. He still continued to idly rub her back while looking up at the ceiling, waiting for her to fall asleep.

 

“Sleep?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Sleep.”

 

“I wish it were that easy, kid…”

 

“Please..?” She begged, large eyes pleading.

 

“...Jeez, twist my arm why don’t ya? Heh, okay, I’ll try...”

 

She smiled at him then and he couldn’t help smiling back as he pulled the blanket up to her shoulders and closed his eyes. Breathing in deep and settling down to try for some rest.

  
  


If it wasn’t for all that had already happened… She probably could get away with murder.

At least with him.


	9. Determination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a night of rest it's finally time to get rid of Chara once and for all!

Sans woke instantly to the sound of a click, eyes snapping open as he tightened his arms around the child in his hold protectively. Slightly surprised Frisk was still sleeping on him, but pushing that thought aside for now to glare at the door as it slowly opened. Two faces soon peeking in and he dropped his defensive posture with an annoyed sigh.

 

The door was opened wider to Papyrus and Undyne both cooing and awwing over him and the human cuddled together on the bed as they entered. Undyne’s ‘I told you so’ grin was almost consuming her face.

 

“Looks like you two punks made up.” She rubbed in.

 

“Yeah…”

 

“OHH, I’M SO PROUD OF YOU!”

 

“Thanks bro. So I guess it’s time for the kid’s training then?”

 

“Tchhh, we’re already BESTIES! No need for more training, we just wanted to see how you two did last night and…”

 

“WANT TO KNOW WHEN YOU’LL BE GETTING CHARA OUT.”

 

Sans looked between the two with a chuckle then directed his attention to Frisk, still sound asleep in his arms. Barely stirring as they spoke.

 

“Whenever she’s ready to have Chara gone. And I think after last night, there shouldn’t be any resistance on her part.”

 

“So, when she wakes up?”

 

“Yeah I gue- Hey-hey! I know we want her out but let the kid sleep!” Sans warned, shifting away from Undyne’s advancing form.

 

“I AGREE UNDYNE. FRISK HAS HAD A ROUGH NIGHT, WE SHOULD LET HER REST.”

 

Undyne relented then, folding her arms with a sour huff. Only to perk up as Frisk stirred, the human child humming while her eyes slowly opened to see three friendly faces smiling at her. A smile coming to her own face while moving to sit up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she sat in Sans lap.

 

“Morning kiddo, sleep well?”

 

“Mhm.”

 

“Good, good, now I’ve got a question for you.” She looked up at him, curious, “Do you want to get rid of Chara?”

 

Frisk didn’t seem to know what to say, staring at Sans then over to Undyne and Papyrus. Both looking hopeful but not encouraging her. Unfortunately someone was discouraging her on the inside. Loudly...

 

“Hey.” Sans snapped his fingers in front of her face, getting her attention back as she held a hand over her chest. “This is your choice; not mine, not Papyrus’, not Undyne’s, and definitely not Chara’s… It’s yours.”

 

Frisk’s eyes still held worry, scared of Chara.

 

“But I will say this. Once she’s out, she won’t be bothering you or anyone ever again…”

 

Clutching her sweater, the child looked down at her lap as she decided what to do. Her choice coming within a few moments as she looked to Sans and nodded, “L-let’s do it.”

 

“Good choice.” Sans grinned, smile widening while ruffling her hair.  

 

It made Frisk giggle cutely only to flinch as Chara all but screamed bloody murder at her, making her flinch. There was no way in hell Chara was going to just quietly let this happen as both sides struggled for control with Frisk grabbing at her head to keep it together and visibly shaking. 

 

“You got this kid, keep her down long as you can.” Sans encouraged, rubbing her back before turning to look up at Undyne and Papyrus, “We’ve got to move quick before Chara takes over, so you guys escort the kid outside to me. I’ll be waiting.”

 

Both nodding, it was Undyne to grab up Frisk bridal style and hurry out of the room with Papyrus at her heels, leaving blue Sans to let his eyes go out and wake back up in his body outside. He shook off snow from his head and shoulders briskly then rubbed his palms together to warm them up just as the three came jogging out.

 

“Put her in the middle of my palm, face up.” He instructed, placing his right hand completely down on the ground for Undyne.

 

Once Frisk was settled, Papyrus and Undyne kneeled on opposite sides of the human, comforting her as they each held one hand then looked up to Sans who had his cyan eye sparking to life. He smiled softly while reaching in with his left hand that held a faintly blue glow around his index and middle finger which lightly traced Frisk’s sternum. Finding the right point, he slowly pulled away his fingers, drawing out her little red heart into the air.

 

“That’s…” Undyne marvelled. 

 

“HER SOUL, WOWIE. IT’S SO PRETTY!”

 

Frisk blushed at the compliment but stayed smiling, squeezing the two hands in her own as she viewed her own soul. Watching it pulse faintly before gasping as the area under her began to glow red and heat up, her attention quickly turning to Sans in worry. Both his scarlet and cyan eye out.

 

“It’s okay, it won’t hurt you…” Sans reassured, “But it will hurt Chara.”

 

As if on cue, Chara’s shadow came bolting around to her front with a sharp cry, her form sizzling from the damage. It was all the skeleton needed as he reached in again to grab at her, getting her waist in his glowing hold and gently pulling her away even as she struggled and fought viciously to escape. Right up until Frisk made a pained little noise. He instantly stopped pulling to see where Chara was connected.

 

It was one thin string connected between Frisk’s soul to Chara’s chest.

 

Next to impossible for Sans’ to see but both Undyne and Papyrus had their brows furrowed and eyes narrowed at the thin black lifeline. Amazed that such a small thing had given the poor kid so much pain.

 

“Can you guys see it?”

 

“YES, IT’S A TINY STRING HOLDING THEM TOGETHER!”

 

“Oh, well cut it.”

 

“WITH WHAT?”

 

“Magic.”

 

“Oh, I’ve totally got this!” Undyne grinned, getting one of her hands free to bring forth a spear. A little overkill but it served its job in snapping the bonds between Frisk and Chara, both of them gasping in unison.

 

“ _ FRISK! Help me!! _ ” The shadow of Chara cried out, hands stretched out and reaching for her just as Sans began to pull her away. Only for him to stop and curse as Frisk suddenly shot a hand out to the apparition whose hands quickly clung to hers.

 

“Frisk…” Sans held back his annoyance, “You can’t spare her, she won’t change… You have to let go.”

 

“ _ F-Frisk, please… _ ”

 

“Kid… Don’t do this.”

 

“ _ Please… _ ” Chara begged, relenting a hand to reach out towards Frisk’s face as if to caress it only for it to shoot down. That dark claw grabbing on to her red soul with a dark little cackle, forcing out a gasp from the child as she grabbed it in both hands as well. Both sides pulling at the soul.

 

“D-damn it!” Sans cursed, trying to pull the shadow away but only succeeding in bringing Frisk with him. Thankfully his brother and Undyne were quick to wrap their arms around Frisk to hold her down as he pulled. There was no way Chara was getting Frisk’s soul..!

 

A sentiment that was in agreement with by all three as Papyrus and Undyne glared death at the shadow and at the same time summoned up a splintered bone and spear out of thin air to pierce right through her. Which was enough for the creature to let go with a shrill cry, recoiling as Frisk quickly gathered her soul to place back into her chest.

 

“ _ Noooooo! _ ”

 

“ **Y E S** ”

 

No escape for Chara now. No mercy. Only DEATH.

 

Sans’ jaw clicked open as he dragged the spirit kicking and screaming up to his face. This was it and he wasn’t going to be taking anymore chances with Chara as she was all but shoved into his maw and swallowed whole. Though he had to hold his hand over his mouth to keep her down, her taste disgustingly vile as he coughed and gagged.

 

“SOME WARNING NEXT TIME SANS!!” Papyrus shouted, hands covering over Frisk’s eyes.

 

“Y-yeah… S-” Sans shuddered, coughing again, “Sorry, only way I could think of to get rid of her in such short notice. Ughh… Remind me not to eat anymore ancient evil spirits, they leave a wicked bad taste in your mouth.”

 

His brother sighed loudly while moving his hands away from Frisk, making Sans smile. A real smile because it was over, finally over. Chara was gone.

 

Which was made all the more apparent as his black hoodie suddenly began to bleed back to blue, leaving the large skeleton speechless as he looked down at his sleeves. Then up when a bright golden light started to glow from Frisk’s chest, shimmering and sparkling out as it encompassed her body.

 

“Frisk!” All three of them shouted, reaching out to help only to stop. There was nothing malicious or evil about the light, just a sense of warmth and hope that was almost blinding to them as they shielded their faces.

 

Though once it faded, they couldn’t believe their eyes. Sans the one to finally ask,

 

“Frisk… How many times have you reset?”

 

\-----

 

“LET’S SEE NOW…” Papyrus spoke up, stick in hand and some calculations drawn out in the snow as he finished up the last of it, “BY ROUGH ESTIMATE, FRISK WOULD HAVE RESET ABOUT… ONE THOUSAND, TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTEEN TIMES…”

 

All eyes turned to Frisk who looked at them with mild confusion, apparently not remembering coming through the underground so many times. Then again, half of it was done by Chara if not more as she looked down at herself. She had almost gained and entire foot from her four feet four inches height while her body rounded her out fairly well from the changes, not too skinny and not too pudgy. Plus her clothing fortunately seems to have followed suit with her transformation. 

 

“GIVE OR TAKE…”

 

“So what? All of those resets she went through kept her a kid and now that there is no reset or Chara she’s all grown up?” Undyne asked, getting a nod from the skeleton brothers.

 

“Looks that way, and starting at…” Sans looked over to Frisk who held up all her fingers to him, “Ten, she’s probably gained another ten or so years on her. Though it’s hard to tell, humans age differently than monsters. If she gains any more height the kid could be younger.”

 

“AWW, OUR LITTLE FRISK IS ALL GROWN UP!” Papyrus cheered, wrapping Frisk up in a hug. At least her face came up to his chest now and he didn’t have to kneel anymore as she hugged back with a giggle.

 

“Does that mean you’re done with her?” Sans turned to Undyne with a raised brow, confused by what the other meant. “You said you had your reasons for keeping her, I’m guessing it was to get rid of the ghost punk but now that that’s over with. Are you done with Frisk?”

 

Papyrus and Frisk turned to look at Undyne then Sans, also wondering what was going on.

 

“In a way, yeah. I’ve finished what I set out to do.”

 

“Good.” Undyne grinned, summoning up a spear and pointing it at Frisk. “Your soul is mine kid!

 

“UNDYNE! ARE YOU-”

 

“Kidding? Nope! I haven’t forgotten either as I’ll be taking her soul myself!”

 

“WH-WHAT! N-NO! YOU-”

 

“Bro.”

 

Papyrus turned to look at Sans who motioned for him to move, getting a flabbergasted look from both him and Frisk. But the massive skeleton didn’t seem too worried, giving the two a wink as he beckoned Papyrus over with a nod of his head to the space near him. And after a moment Papyrus relented, leaving Frisk to Undyne.

 

“Finally!” The fish lady cackled, grinning wide if sweating a little. She stood for a long moment, spear in both hands pointed at Frisk with nothing holding her back now. Nothing at all…

 

Yet she still stood in place, grin faltering minutely as Frisk smiled at her.

 

“You going to do it?” Sans asked, his head propped up on a fist as he watched. This brother shooting him a horrified look.

 

“Y-yeah! Just, uh, savouring the moment!” Her spear began to shake.

 

“Ah, a good idea since you’ll only do this once then Frisk will be gone. Forever…”

 

Undyne’s forced grin shrank away, her battle stance lost as she sighed greatly and dropped the spear. She brought a hand up to her head, shaking it as she closed her eye.

 

“...Alright Papyrus, you win… I can’t off the kid after becoming besties.”

 

Papyrus was too busy trying to breath than celebrate as he grasped his chest, his other hand clinging tight to Sans’ sleeve but instantly glared up at his brother when he heard him chuckle.

“YOU KNEW SHE WOULDN’T DO IT!?

 

“Course, but I wouldn’t let her hurt Frisk even if she did try.”

 

“GAAAH!! SANS YOU ARE THE WORST!! I NEARLY HAD A HEART ATTACK!”

 

“But bro… You don’t have a heart.”

 

“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!!”

 

Frisk laughed as the two brothers went at it, glad that some things would never change though when she looked at Undyne she couldn’t help feeling bad. The fish lady looked so down about not being able to… Well, maybe she could cheer her up as she walked over to give her a hug.

 

“Huh? Oh...Hey kid, sorry about- Hm?” Undyne looked confused as Frisk whispered in her ear only to grin widely, “Hah! Of course we can still have training days now and then! I’d be insulted if we didn’t!! Though I really should be getting back home, I’m starting to miss the dampness.”

 

“ALREADY? WELL, I GUESS IT HAS BEEN A FEW DAYS.”

 

“Yeah, best days of my life so far. Even if we won’t be getting out of here anytime soon.” She shrugged, “Aw well, one day. Oh and you all better come by and visit! Especially you Frisk! Can’t be slacking on that training now!”

 

Frisk nodded eagerly, giving Undyne one last hug before the fish lady moved to Papyrus for a hug. A tight one as he gasped once free and was trying to catch his breath before she seemed to glare up at Sans. Who was grinning.

 

“Do I get a hug?” He teased, only to regret it as his face was grabbed up and squeezed hard before she let go to punch him in the shoulder.

 

“You take good care of them, got it!?”

 

“I- I will.” Sans rubbed at his face with a grunt.

 

“Great! See ya punks later!!”

 

A round of goodbyes was said by the group as Undyne headed back to the inn for her stuff, leaving the three to their own devices. If unsure on what to do now after such an exciting morning.

 

“Soooo… Who’s up for Grillby’s?”

 

“NO GREASE!”

 

“Milkshake?”

 

“...I SUPPOSE ONE COULDN’T HURT.”

 

“How about you kid?”

 

An eager nod from Frisk and it was settled as Sans closed his eyes, his smaller blue self walking out the front door moments later to head out with them to Grillby’s. Though the smile on his real face shifted to a frown as they left, Frisk the only one to notice even though the Sans they were with was smiling.

 

\-----

 

“AHH, THAT WAS EVEN BETTER THE SECOND TIME AROUND!” Papyrus sighed happily, able to finish the whole milkshake this time. “HOW WAS YOUR BURGER, FRISK?”

 

“Mmmm…” She hummed, rubbing her tummy for emphasis.

 

“GOOD! AND YOU BROTHER?”

 

“Not too shabby.” Sans chuckled. Though noticed when Frisk took up Papyrus’ hand in her own as they walked, apparently not breaking the habit even though she was older. His attention quickly turning away when she looked down at him curiously. “Heh, jeez kid, way to out grow me.”

 

Frisk giggled then, patting his head to tease him further. She was only five inches taller but it was enough to make him look and feel short. For now, it wasn’t like he didn’t tower over both of them easily enough.

 

“IT’S NOT ALL BAD SANS!”

 

“It’s…” She started, a twinkle in her eyes, “not that  **big** of a deal.”

 

“GAHHH!!” Papyrus shouted, letting go of Frisk’s hand to throw it up in the air with the other then fold them grumpily over his chest.

 

“Good one kid.” Sans chuckled with amusement but caught the sad look on her face from losing a hand to hold. He pulled his own out and offered it up, smiling as she happily took it. The rest of the walk home filled with grumbles from Papyrus.

  
  
  


Once home, it was decided that puzzles and The Mettaton Show was in order with Sans lazily sitting on the couch watching his brother and Frisk piece together another puzzle. It was of some sort of weird place with tall box shaped buildings that rose to the sky, the kid had called it a city so they took her word on it, knowing more about the outside world than them.

 

Though after a couple hours, Sans finally moved to stand up and head up to his room for a nap, bringing a smile to Frisk’s face and a light jab from Papyrus on being such a lazy bones. It was far too affectionate coming from his brother to be insulting, just by the way he smiled at him after making him chuckle. But once he made it too his room, carefully closing the door behind him, he trudged over to his bed and flopped on it face first, barely dragging himself on it as he sighed deeply.

 

It didn’t take much to open his eyes and find himself outside, staring at the side of the house as he shook off the snow gathered on him then rolling on to his back. He stared up at the faraway rocky ceiling of the underground while losing himself in thought.

  
  


Everything could go back to normal now. Chara was gone, everyone was still alive and Frisk could still open the barrier if she wanted to. No more resets. Just a happy ending for all…

 

His eyes dimmed then, the frown on his face deepening as he threw an arm over his eyes.

 

A happy ending for everyone else, except him…

 

\-----

 

“Sans..?” Frisk lightly prodded the blob of blue skeleton on the bed. He didn’t budge or even make a sound so she gave his shoulder a firm shake to try and wake him up. Though wondered if he was really sleeping or elsewhere.

 

After a minute he finally jerked up, startling her as she jumped back while he assessed the situation and finally noticed her. A sheepish smile on his face as he rubbed the back of his head.

 

“Oh, sorry kid, didn’t mean to scare ya like that.” Sans chuckled weakly. “What’s uh, up?”

 

“Bed time.”

 

“Already?”

 

“Mhm, did you have a good nap?”

 

Another weak chuckle and he couldn’t seem to look her in the eye as he nodded, though to her it felt insincere. Was he hiding something?

 

“Guess I’ll get out of your way then, let you have a go with the bed. I’ve even got it all warmed up for you.” He winked, hopping off and shoving his hands in his pockets. “I’ll be downstairs if you need anything kid. Good night.”

 

“Night…”

 

Frisk turned her attention to the bed, placing a hand where Sans had been and found it cold like he was when she shook him. Her hunch correct in assuming he had been his real self the entire time than having a nap.

 

Though there wasn’t much she could about it now as she sighed, crawling on to the bed and hugging the pillow. Only to let it go to look at her arms, they were longer now making it hard to judge where things were. Her fingers weren’t short and pudgy anymore either, they were long and almost elegant looking. Then there was her body…

 

It was alien to her, foreign. Like she had been stretched out and given extras, like those weird lumps on her chest. Toriel and Undyne had them too, maybe only girls got them, least they were soft and kind of squishy.

 

Though peeking down her sweater at them, she wasn’t sure how to feel about the masses on her chest. It didn’t matter at the moment though as she yawned, it had been a long day and sleep seemed like the best option.

  
  


Too bad her dreams didn’t want to agree with her…

 

She woke with a start, sniffling softly while trying to catch her breath. A few tears slipping out that were quickly wiped away as she curled up on her side and whimpered. After a few moments to calm down, she could hear the TV quietly going downstairs, meaning that Sans was still up.

 

So taking a moment to bundle up in the blanket, Frisk made her way to the door then out into the hallway, glancing over the railing to see the dark room illuminated by just the TV with Sans staring at the screen. He didn’t seem to be watching it though as she made her way carefully down the steps, no reactions to any of the on screen moments but looked lost in his own world. Only to wake up when she took a seat at the other end of the couch.

 

“Kid? What are you doing up?”

 

“I… I had a bad dream…”

 

“Oh… Do you wanna talk about it?”

 

Frisk shook her head, pulling her knees up to her chest again as she sniffled.

 

“Aw, kiddo, c’mere.” Sans shifted to lean against the armrest of the couch and opened his arms up for the kid, smiling when she shuffled her way over and hugged him back. If awkwardly, his size not exactly the best for comforting anymore.”Heh… This was a lot easier when you were smaller.”

 

“S-sorry…”

 

“Don’t sweat it, I’ll work something out..” He rubbed her back as she curled up to him, legs dangling off the side of the couch. Sitting quietly, they went through a few programs with Mettaton flashing through. Frisk nearly falling back asleep when the news came on and Sans voice filtered through.

 

“Should probably head back up to bed if you wanna sleep, kid.”

 

She blinked up at him, rubbing her eyes to clear them as she moved to sit up. Though gave him her best pleading eyes.

 

“Hey, I already told you I’m not a bed. Even less now than before, I wouldn’t be very comfortable.”

 

“I don’t want another bad dream…”

 

“I know… But not getting any sleep also isn’t good for you.”

 

“Are you going to sleep?”

 

“Ye-” Sans started only to be stared down by Frisk, making him falter, “No… I won’t be.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Cuz… I have bad dreams at night too…” He looked away, eyes dimming, “It’s easier to just, not sleep.”

 

“Sans…”

 

“Don’t worry about it kid… This new body, doesn’t even feel like I need to sleep or eat m-uuuch?!”

 

Frisk all but tackled him into a hug, squeezing him tight as he floundered. Not expecting to be pinned down and ruthlessly hugged as he half heartedly struggled.

 

“Frisk, c’mon, I’m fine… You don’t have to smother me here…” He laughed weakly, awkwardly pushing at Frisk’s shoulder to get her off him. “Y-you can let go anytime now...kid. Kid..?”

 

“You slept last night…”

 

Sans’ brow rose, thinking on the night before and sighed. He had… “Yeah, well, circumstances. I don’t need sleep, you do. So, please, for me, go to bed…”

 

“Okay.”

 

Well that was eas- She flopped right down on him, full weight driving an omph from him. A giggle soon following as he cursed.

 

“Frisk! Not on me! I am not a bed! We’ve been over this!” He hissed quietly, keeping his voice down so as not to rouse Papyrus. “I swear, kid, if you don’t get off of me and get that butt into bed I will unleash my special attack on you, and it won’t be pretty..!”

 

Frisk pulled back then, both hands at either side of Sans head as her brows furrowed at him in a manner of trying to remember something. Only for a little smirk to grow on her lips.

 

“Isn’t your special attack nothing?”

 

Busted… So much for that empty threat.

 

“Alright… You got me but in all seriousness, you need to get some sleep.”

 

“So do you…”

 

“I- What is this? Think cuz you’ve grown a few inches and are older you can boss me around?”

 

“Mhm!”

 

“Cute… But you’re still a kid on the inside, and kids like you… should be sleeping. Unless they’re looking for a bad time…”

 

Frisk smiled then, determination set in her eyes on getting Sans to sleep. Only to flinch back when his eye suddenly flashed cyan, making her backup on his thighs instead of hovering over him as he wiggled out. His back against the armrest with nothing else happening.

 

“...N-no magic?”

 

“No magic, not in this body.” Sans shrugged, grinning, “Made ya flinch.”

 

That wasn’t funny and she made it apparent as she pouted at him, unhappy to have been tricked. Which only seemed more amusing to him as he chuckled, slipping out completely from under her to stand.

 

“Alright, funs over. Time to go back to bed.” He ordered but was met with a resistance as Frisk shook her head and folded her arms like a fussy child. “No? Do I have to carry you up there?”

 

She couldn’t help grinning then, a challenge set for the blue skeleton as he raised a brow. Watching her settle deeply into the couch with a ‘try me’ look.

 

“Didn’t wanna have to do this kid, but it looks like you’re… forcing my hand.” Sans brought a hand up, wiggling his fingers as the glow in his still present cyan eye increased.

 

Even though he couldn’t conjure up any sort of magic of his own in this form it didn’t mean he was completely useless. There was still one thing he could work with and Frisk was learning this first hand as her eyes widened. No magic...but his body could apparently still be manipulated as he suddenly grew a foot and some odd inches in height then thickened out in the arms, chest and stomach. A lot in the stomach as he gained a round tummy.

 

“Hm, worked better than expected… Now,” He eyed up Frisk, amused by her slack jawed expression, “We going to do this the easy way? Or the hard way?”

 

It didn’t take her long to snap out of her shock, mind quickly working away on figuring out the best method of resistance. Which seemed to be lay out flat along the length of the lumpy couch and wedge herself between the cushions, drawing out a loud laugh from Sans as he slapped a hand to his face.

 

“Hard way, I see. Heh heh, alright, you asked for it.”  

 

Advancing forward, he braced a knee on the edge of the couch to shove his hands above and below Frisk’s waist in an attempt to pull her out. Of course getting some trouble as she wiggled, squirmed and pushed at his hands to keep him from getting a good grip. Neither getting too rough with the other, even when Frisk shoved a hand into his face to limit his vision and getting a tongue over her palm.

 

“Ewww!” She protested, shaking her hand to get the slime off.

 

It was just the distraction Sans needed, getting one of his arms around her waist and quickly yanking her out with a little ‘whoop!’ as her back smacked against his soft front. His other hand quick following to join around her waist.

 

“Hah, gotcha kiddo, what now?”

 

Her toes barely touched the ground with his new height, effectively keeping her struggles to a minimum but not enough to stop her altogether as she planted her hands on his arm to push down while she wiggled up. Good thing he had two arms as one let up to grab at her shoulder to hold her down but instead grabbed something else...Something soft.

 

“Uh…” Sans blanched, eyes wide in mortification while relenting his hold.

 

Frisk quickly took the slackened hold to wriggle out before she was dropped, thinking she broke free as she whirled around to face Sans with a grin only to raise a brow. He was looking at his hand then her as sweat gathered on his brow.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

His worried look changed when she didn’t acknowledge what had happened, clearing his throat as he tucked his hands into his pockets. Looking far more imposing now with his wider build.

 

“N-nothing, now, where were we?”

 

“You’re going to bed.”

 

“That’s my line, kid.”  

 

\-----

 

“AHH, WHAT A REFRESHING REST!” Papyrus hummed happily, walking down the steps to head for the kitchen only to stop near the bottom. Both brows high on his forehead as he took in the scene below. Couch cushions were strewn about while the couch itself was flipped right over along with the table near the door now on its side. Nothing broken but the two culprits were on the floor passed out with Sans, who seems to have bulked up, on his back, arm tucked behind his head, and Frisk using him as a pillow as she curled up at his side.

 

“WHAT HAPPENED!?!”

 

They woke with a start, both blinking in a daze up at Papyrus before pointing at each other and at the same time saying,

 

“They wouldn’t go to bed!”

 

“I’LL SEND YOU BOTH TO BED IF YOU DON’T CLEAN THIS MESS UP!!”

 

“Sorry!”


	10. "Respite"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's all fun and games until...

Days slowly went by with the same general outcome each night as Frisk and Sans wrestled to get the other to go to sleep first only to end up exhausting each other out until they both fell asleep. Papyrus finding them three mornings in a row passed out on the couch or floor cuddled up, much to his annoyance with the living room in a disarray each time. He even got after them for it but Sans would shrug it off with a broad grin and just say it was their way of bonding. Which thankfully seemed to appease his younger brother but not before reaming them out over traumatizing their pet rock. Who had been lovingly moved to the kitchen for safe keeping.

 

Though by night four, Frisk was starting to wear out on trying to wrestle Sans to bed as she sat panting on the couch, holding up a finger for a one minute break that had the skeleton laughing as he joined her. His smile wide as he lazed back with a smug look on his face, like he had won.

 

“What’s wrong kid? Run out of determination?” He teased, throwing an arm over the back of the couch, “I told ya, I don’t need to sleep, or eat for that matter. I’ve got magic for days to fuel me.”

 

She huffed then, folding her arms over her chest and sticking out her bottom lip.

 

“Aww don’t be like that, you did your best. We slept for three nights in a row, isn’t that enough for you?” Sans asked then sighed as she shook her head, adamant about getting him to sleep. “Well, hate to break it to ya kid but you’re going to pass out long before I do so you may as well just give up and let me do my own thing.”

 

He cringed at his own tone, not meaning to sound so harsh but it was the truth. The ugly truth, the kind that implied that Frisk should just give up on him in general. Nothing but a lost cause…

 

The room fell silent then, neither side looking at the other as his eyes dimmed. Heavily regretting his words but unable to take them back.

 

“Sans..?” His eyes came back, turning to look at Frisk, “Why don’t you smile anymore?”

 

“I...I am smiling. See?” The skeleton broadened his grin but the kid looked unconvinced, frowning sadly at him.

 

“But you’re not…”

 

“I don’t understand, kid… I’m smiling as hard as I can.”

 

Still unconvinced she suddenly stood up and walked over to the front door, throwing her boots on then wrenching it open and disappearing outside. Leaving Sans to sit dumbfounded on the couch, unsure of what had just happened.

 

“F-Frisk?! Wait, where are you going!?” He called out, pushing off the couch to follow.

 

Once outside, his head whipped back and forth to see where the kid had went, eyes wide with worry as he caught her striped sweater duck around the side of the house and quickly moved to follow. It was snowing heavily out, bringing with it a fresh new layer of snow that threatened to be more than a few inches once it stopped but it was also cold and Frisk wasn’t dressed to be outside for very long.

Turning the corner, Sans stopped in his tracks as he took in the kid hugging him, the real him. Which had taken to lying out by the side of the house than behind it. But it was the shaky little voice that had him frozen in place.

 

“W-why don’t you smile anymore..?” She asked again, resting her forehead to his cheek. “E-everything is better now, y-you’ve made it better but you… you don’t…”

 

He didn’t move, didn’t even want to go back into that body.

 

“Sans…” Frisk quivered, shaking as she balled up her hands into fists, “Chara’s gone! She’s been gone for days and y-you haven’t smiled since! You p-put on a fake smile for us when me and Papyrus go outside b-but once our backs are turned it’s gone! Why??”

 

Sans flinched as her little fists thumped mutely against his skull, driving home her question. Then did it a few more times.

 

“Answer me Sans!”

 

The massive skeleton’s eyes snapped open then, dual coloured orbs glowing hot and bright as he wrenched his face away from Frisk, sending her sprawling to the cold ground as he shifted away. Gaze on her as she looked up at him from the ground.

 

“What do you want me to say?!” He snarled bitterly. “Oh, everything is better now… I’ve fixed the world, you can finish the run and let everyone else live happily ever after~! Yeah great, but that isn’t going to bring back my BROTHER! ...OR HIS!”

 

He roughly pointed in the general direction of Papyrus, making her frown in confusion.

 

“Don’t get it? Well think about it,  **k i d d o** , if I hadn’t selfishly come to this timeline to destroy Chara then the Sans of this world would still be alive but he’s not because there can’t be two of the same running around in one without the fabric of space and time ripping at the seams. Ergo… It’s my fault this world’s Sans died! Oh but don’t worry, I ‘made it all better now’.”

 

The venom of his words practically dripping from his mouth as he glared at Frisk who was just now moving to stand up, brushing the snow off her legs. Still looking up at him with an impassive frown.

 

“You wanna see me smile? I’ll give you a smile…”

 

The frown on his face turned up into a normal smile that just kept going, growing more jagged and dark the higher up the sides went. Going so far as to meet his eyes with a sickly crackle before stopping as he stared at her with the most wildly sinister expression that came naturally to his form. He even tilted his head slightly to the side to give off the perfect look of insanity to his hunched form.

 

“ **I S  T H I S  B E T T E R ?** ”

 

Frisk didn’t move from her spot, holding her ground as she stared up at him with a look he didn’t seem to like. His smile twitching before going back to a tired frown in a blink of an eye while hers went missing, almost a straight line on her face with a small sad curve down at the corners.

 

“D-don’t look at me like that… You can’t save me. Judgement is my thing, and that means not even I am exempt from it. And I know for a fact that guys like me...should be burning in hell.”

 

“No!” She shouted, shaking her head vigorously, “You’re not full of LOVE or EXP!”

 

“Heh… You think those are the only things I judge? I’d be pretty bad at my job if it was based off those two options alone. But let me tell you about the seven deadly sins… We’ve got Pride. Sloth. Envy. Wrath. Greed…” He slowly counted out, eyes flickering off and on with each word though varying in intensity but with the last two he drew out his tongue to lick over his sharp fangs, “Gluttony… And Lust.”

 

Shivering, Frisk fought to keep her eyes locked with Sans but that ethereal tongue was still as frightening as ever as it glided along his teeth before dipping back into his mouth. He knew it too…

 

“I’ve got about three of those sins weighing me down, maybe four if I was to be so petty...but it’s more than enough.”

 

…

 

“So... this is what you’ve been doing when you haven’t gone to bed?” Sans brow raised then, narrowing his eyes at the kid, “Convincing yourself that you’re a terrible person? That all that you’ve done for me, for Papyrus has meant nothing? You sacrificed everything you had left to come here and end the cycle with Chara instead of letting it happen again!”

 

“The Sans of this world-”

 

“Would have understood what you were trying to do! And Papyrus… He’s not dumb, he’s probably figured out what happened and why, just like you, but he doesn’t resent you for it! He adores you all the same, he understands!”

 

“S-stop it…”

 

“This was all meant to happen!”

 

“None of this would have happened if I had just killed Chara back in my timeline!!” Sans snarled, slamming his fist into the cold ground and shaking up Frisk.

 

“W-what would have happened to me!?”

 

“You’d be dead!”

 

“And you’d be all alone!!”

 

Sans choked on a sound as realization dawned on him, if he had succeeded, if he had killed Chara for good then and there in the Judgement Hall it would have left him stranded and alone for the rest of his damned existence. Was this the better outcome? He had a brother again, Frisk was alive, and the barrier could still be destroyed while his old world was an empty and barren wasteland of hopelessness.

 

He flinched back when he noticed Frisk had walked up to him, unafraid even as he moved to sit up, get away from her, while he hugged himself. His eyes devoid of any light as he breathed deep.

 

“You did good Sans… Even if you don’t think you did.” Frisk praised while getting closer to Sans.

 

“Leave me alone…”

 

“That’s the last thing I’d want to do…” Right before she could go in for a hug, his head whipped around, cyan eye burning bright to encompass and immobilize her form in its warm glow.

 

“ **G o  a w a y .** ”

 

Sans didn’t throw her like he had Undyne; instead forcing her away towards the house, opening the door, and bringing her in to dump her on the couch. The door slamming shut and locking soon after, and staying that way even as she ran for the door and fought to get out..

 

“Sans!” She thumped on the wood, fighting with the doorknob. “Open the door!”

 

“FRISK..? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Papyrus called out from the top of the stairs, rubbing at his tired eyes.

 

“Sans won’t open the door!”

 

“IT’S BELOW FREEZING OUT AND SUPPOSED TO SNOW A FOOT TONIGHT, I WOULDN’T LET YOU OUT EITHER IN THAT SORT OF WEATHER.”

 

“But he needs us Paps! He’s out there, hurt, he thinks he’s worthless!”

 

“WHAT!?” Papyrus was down the steps in seconds flat, trying the door for himself then pounding a fist on it. “SANS?! THIS IS YOUR BROTHER, OPEN THE DOOR!!”

 

There was still no answer, making him furrow his brow and gentle push Frisk back. “STAND BACK!”

 

Legs apart, shoulders squared and arms out, Papyrus’ eyes flashed a soft orange before two bones materialized into the air beside him and went launching into the door, pegging both bottom and top hinges. Blowing the door clean off.

 

Frisk didn’t even wait for the door to even settle before she was out and running around to the side with Papyrus right beside her to find a massive back facing them. The massive skeleton was holding his lowered head in both hands, shoulders shaking and breathing hard.

 

“SANS! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!? WHY WOULD YOU EVER THINK YOU WERE WORTHLESS!?”

 

“G-g-go away…” Sans voice trembled.

 

“I WILL NOT!” Papyrus stamped his foot, “YOU ARE MY BROTHER, AND YOU ARE NOT WORTHLESS! YOU ARE CLEVER, WONDERFUL AND FULL OF AWFUL PUNS BUT I LOVE YOU REGARDLESS OF YOUR TERRIBLE JOKES!”

 

A dark socket turned to look over a spiked shoulder, mostly blocked out but visible as Papyrus smiled hopefully up at his brother only to gasp and look down. His orange soul was out and so was Frisk’s, judging by her surprised gasp. Looking back up, Sans eye was glowing and soon enough both of them were being lifted into the air.

 

“SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? PUT US DOWN!”

 

No response, just a crackle of magic in his eye that arched like lightening.

 

“SANS!” Papyrus snapped, eyes glowing orange and swiping his hand out in a sweeping motion in front of him to break the hold his brother had on him. He then did the same for Frisk, freeing her from her bonds. “Frisk, my brother is unwell. His magic unstable…”

 

Frisk had to do a double take, having never heard Papyrus sound so quiet or serious before only to quickly be shoved aside as a bone came ripping through the ground between them. With many more coming at them. At least she had a lot practice in dodging, and so did Papyrus it seemed though he went with both defensive dodging and offensive bones of his own to clash and nullify Sans attacks.

 

“I need to get close to him, would you be so kind as to be a distraction for me? I just need to get to the back of his neck.”

 

“Uh… Mhm!” Frisk nodded, squeaking as she narrowly dodged another strike. The bones getting bigger with each wave.

 

“Splendid!” Papyrus chirped, forming two bone clubs in each hand before dashing off towards the shed.

 

She split off in the other direction, ducking and jumping over the onslaught of attacks to come her way as she circled around to Sans’ front. Anything to keep the massive skeleton’s attention on her but as she rolled her way in she couldn’t help gasping in surprise to the sight before her. 

 

Sans’ soul.

 

Sans’ cracked cyan soul, expanding and contracting like a heart on the verge of having an attack. She knew souls pulsed faintly but this one was working over time with more arches of blue and red lightning sparking around it, Papyrus wasn’t kidding about being unstable.

 

Unfortunately she wasn’t paying enough attention to her own situation and was suddenly struck in the face by a bone, sending her sprawling back with a pained cry. Only for more to come her way in a never ending barrage.

 

“FRISK!?” Papyrus called out in worry from his side. That was mistake number two as Sans twisted his body around to take a backhanded swing at him, narrowly missing the lanky skeleton but taking out a huge chunk of the shed with the strike. “SANS! STOP THIS!”

 

“ **L E A V E  M E  A L O N E ! ! !** ”

 

Sans moved to take another swing at his brother, half turning to get him only to be pelted in the side of the head by something cold and wet.. His attention instantly shifting back to Frisk as she packed a new snowball tight and lobbed it at him. She may not have been as strong as Undyne but she was filled with more than enough determination to keep balling up wads of fresh sticky snow to throw at the unstable skeleton, keeping his attention as more bones were launched her way.

 

But she just needed one clean shot at Sans and after a few failed attempts while avoiding being hit, one round ball of snow went sailing right into his eye socket, making him cringe and twitch as he brought a hand up to the afflicted area with a shudder. The perfect distraction for Papyrus to come vaulting in with his clubs from the top of the broken shed and slamming both of them into the back of Sans neck with a loud crack.

 

Frisk flinched at the sound, cringing with how loud it had been but was it enough? She watched with baited breath as Sans’ wide eyes flickered in and out but visibly fought to stay up, trembling hard as he straightened up before his eyes rolled up and faded away. His huge body going limp and falling backwards onto the shed, destroying what was left of it with a resounding crash.

 

She stumbled with the small earthquake but couldn’t keep her balance as she fell to her knees with a small squeak. Though once the tremors faded, her soul slowly returned to her chest to prove that the ordeal was over. And looking up, she was able to see Sans’ soul pulsing away gently right before slipping back into his ribcage just as Papyrus seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

 

“OH GOOD! THAT STILL WORKS!” He laughed with delight while circling around Sans to help Frisk. Both soon turning towards Sans as he placed his hands on his hips to survey the scene.

 

“W-works?”

 

“YES, YOU SEE, MY SANS USED TO HAVE MELTDOWNS NOW AND THEN TOO. HE HAD A LOT OF MAGIC IN HIS BODY, NOT TO THE EXTENT OF THIS SANS BUT ENOUGH TO CAUSE SERIOUS HARM TO HIMSELF IF LEFT UNCHECKED.” Papyrus explained, “SO I CREATED A MEANS TO STOP HIM FROM DOING IT, THOUGH IT WAS MORE OF A PRESSURE POINT ON MY SANS SEEING HOW I COULDN’T REALLY USE MUCH FORCE LIKE I DID WITH HIM.”

 

Clearly as this Sans was out cold. Guess he would be getting some rest tonight…

 

“Heh..” Frisk sniffled, rubbing a hand under her nose and finding blood.

 

“OH DEAR… HE GOT YOU PRETTY GOOD. DOES IT HURT? WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO HEAL YOU?” Papyrus asked, worrying over Frisk as he took in her bleeding nose and bruised cheek.

 

“Yes please…”

 

Smiling, he held a hand a few inches from her face to heal, holding it there for a few moments only to frown. He looked at his hand then Frisk with concern before bringing up a bony thumb to rub away the bruise but stopped as she flinched.

 

“OH… THAT’S NOT DIRT, SEEMS AS THOUGH MY MAGIC ISN’T AS EFFECTIVE ON HUMANS AS IT IS ON US…”

 

“It- It helped, my face doesn’t hurt as much.”

 

“THAT’S REASSURING, ARE YOU HURT ANYWHERE ELSE?”

 

“Umm…” Frisk lifted her sweater up a little ways, showing a few more forming bruises on her soft tummy.

 

“OH… WELL, LET’S JUST GIVE THOSE A LITTLE DOSE OF HEALING MAGIC TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.” Papyrus smiled, giving each bruise some attention before finishing up with patting her head. “SANS WILL BE OUT FOR AWHILE YET, LET’S HEAD BACK TO B-”

 

He paused, taking in the damage to the house. Apart from the door already off, the side was a mess with a huge hole showing into the living room. Good thing pet rock was in the kitchen as the table it used to sit on was split in two.

 

“...I’LL FIX THAT TOMORROW. BEDTIME FOR NOW.” Taking up Frisk’s hand in his own, they returned to the house and went to their respective rooms while bidding each other a fond goodnight. How Papyrus was so calm was baffling to Frisk but she shrugged it off as something he must have been used to.

 

But looking down at her sweater, she just now noticed the blood stain running down it from her nosebleed only to frown at the mess. She quickly tossed her sweater for later washing and put on the ‘Bone Zone’ shirt for now before climbing into bed, only to stare up at the ceiling with a soft sigh.

  
Too filled with worry and adrenaline to really fall asleep, but also going back to the image of Sans broken soul.


	11. Nyeh heh heh!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh heh!!

Bang…

 

Bang!

 

BANG!

 

Sans flinched with each loud clang, eyes slowly opening to stare up into the sky blankly, the pounding in his head syncing up with the loud banging to come from his side. He rolled his head over to figure out what was going on and could see Papyrus with his hand on a board up against the house and a hammer in his other, swinging away at a nail.

 

What happened..?

 

He moved to sit up with a hand on his head, that quickly moved to the back of his neck once he was sitting upright. The area tender as he cradled and rubbed it with a groan which seemed to catch the attention of his brother, who turned around. Smile on his face and a few nails between his teeth.

 

“GOOD MORNING BROTHER!”

 

“Mornin’ Paps… What happened to the house?”

 

“OH THIS? DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT! YOU HAD A SMALL MELTDOWN LAST NIGHT, SO YOU ATTACKED ME AND FRISK WHEN WE TRIED TO HELP, BUT FEAR NOT! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WAS ABLE TO STOP YOU BEFORE YOU HURT YOURSELF! ...APOLOGIES, I MAY HAVE HIT YOU HARDER THAN INTENDED…”

 

Sans stared at Papyrus for a long moment before putting two and two together as to why his neck hurt so much, his mind blank and empty on anything that happened after he and Frisk- Frisk!?

 

“Is Frisk alright!? Are you okay!?”

 

“I’M FINE AND FRISK, WELL SHE TOOK A FEW HITS BUT IS ALSO FINE! I HEALED WHAT I COULD OF HER LAST NIGHT.”

 

“FFffffff-”

 

“NO SWEARING!” Papyrus waved his hammer at Sans, his other hand on his hip, “I KNOW YOU DIDN’T MEAN TO TRY AND HURT US BUT I DOUBT YOU EVEN REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED EITHER.”

 

“I… I don’t, I’ve never had a meltdown before…”

 

“Huh… Strange, my brother used to have them frequently, but it happens when your magic starts to become unstable. Unstable to the point that it starts destroying your body from the inside out until… well, your soul can’t take the stress anymore and shatters.”

 

Sans removed his hand from his neck to clutch at his chest, feeling for his soul. A grimace coming to his face as his eye sockets grew empty.

 

“Sans… Your soul was very damaged looking last night… but I don’t think it was purely from the meltdown.” Papyrus set down the hammer and nails then walked up to his brother with concern plain on his face. “May I see it?”

 

The massive skeleton turned away, shoulders hunched as he gripped at his chest, fingers going through his own ribs to hold on tighter. But his brother followed, walking around to stand before him with a gentle smile on his face, always so happy…

 

“Please? I’ll show you mine.”

 

That got a brief memory going, Sans and his brother having the exact same conversation. He relented back then, joy filling his face at seeing how excited Paps was to look at his soul, calling it pretty and liking the colour…  

 

Pulling his hand away from his chest, his soul gently appeared, floating in front of his brother’s scarf. And Papyrus smiled all the same, even though Sans’ soul was broken. So broken...

 

“Wowie, that is one big soul.”

 

Sans chuckled faintly, his white dots for eyes slowly coming back as he watched his brother. A slight smile coming to his face as Papyrus brought out his own soul, cradling it in both hands and holding it up for him to see. He leaned in a little to get a better look at the orange soul, smile fading when he noticed a small crack.

 

Papyrus noticed it as well but kept his smile as he brought it back down to float in front of his chest. His eyes focused on his own soul..

 

“Heh, it’s kind of funny… The one crack that I have lines up with one of yours.” He rubbed the back of his skull, nervously, “It’s also your biggest crack too…”

 

“Papyrus…”

 

“Sans…”

 

They sat in silence for a moment, mourning the loss of their brother before Sans moved. Cupping his hands around his soul and bringing it down lower for Papyrus, he smiled faintly, watching his brother hesitantly reach out to touch the heart shaped soul nearly three quarters Papyrus’ size. He shivered when the others hand made contact, feeling fingertips gently run along a few cracks before settling at the center, feeling its warmth and slow pulse.

 

“Love ya bro…”

 

“I love you too brother, and nothing shall ever change that.” Papyrus murmured, giving Sans’ soul one last pat then letting it go on its way back to that large rib cage. His own soon returning to his own.

 

“So… Uh, need any help with fixing the house? ...Or the shed..?” Sans offered, just now noticing the flattened building as he shook off bits and pieces of it from his back.

 

“No need, I think I have it mostly taken care of! Plus we never used that shed anyways.”

 

The door suddenly flopped over, Frisk peeping out soon after with an apologetic smile on her face as she waved.

 

“Maybe a few extra hands would be nice…” He sighed, placing a hand to his head before waving back, “GOOD MORNING FRISK!”

 

“Morning Papyrus!” She gingerly walked over the downed door then made her way to the tall skeleton, quickly noticing Sans was awake and smiling up at him. “Morning Sans! Feeling better?”

 

“Mornin’ kid, uh, yeah. Think so.” Sans rubbed the back of his sore neck thoughtfully before noticing the bruise on Frisk’s face and arms. Then the shirt she was wearing, making him grimace.

 

“Kid… I told you not to wear that shirt…”

 

“There was blood on my sweater…” Sans choked then, ready to freak out but was beaten to it, “Nosebleed! Nothing serious, it’s okay. Really, I’m just glad that you’re alright.”

 

“WE BOTH ARE!”

 

“Aw guys…you’re going to make me blush.  **Snow joke** …”

 

“GAHHH!!” Papyrus shrieked while Frisk giggled into her hands. “I’M GOING BACK TO FIXING THE HOUSE!!”

 

“Okay, bro, I know you’ll…  **nail it** .”

 

“NRRAAAHH!! SANS!!”

 

“Yeah?”

 

Papyrus calmed down then, hand to his head and an affection smile to his long face, “You know…”

 

“Heh...yeah, I do know…” Sans smiled then, a long missed feature on his face. It even stayed when he noticed Frisk smiling happily up at him, though he still felt horrible for bruising her…

 

“Smiling suits you.” She spoke up. 

 

“Like I don’t know that, but what doesn’t suit you is that shirt you’re wearing. Go put another one on…”

 

“What does it mean?”

 

“W-what?”

 

“Bone Zone, what does it mean? You said you’d tell me when I was older.”

 

“In mind, Frisk! I’ll tell you when you grow up in body and mind, all that’s grown is your body. No cheatin’ out of this.”

 

“Guess you’re the biggest cheater of them all then.” Frisk grinned cheekily, rocking back and forth on her heels.

 

“You little…” Sans mouth twitched, “C’mere! I’ll show you just what this cheater is capable of!”

 

Frisk shrieked with amusement, running off when a skeletal hand reached out for her. It was obvious Sans was just playing, pretending to grab for her and ‘missing’ as he’d get a handful of snow. Their fun going on for another few minutes before he captured her with his other hand as she all but ran into it, laughing as he picked her up.

 

“You give up yet? Huh? Had enough?” He teased, prodding her side to get a ticklish giggle and her shaking her head. “No? Well I guess I’ll have to try harder then.”

 

Hooking his index finger, he went on a spree of tickling at exposed ribs, getting a shrill round of giggling as she fought to keep his finger away from her sides. Only letting up after a bit when she seemed to have trouble breathing from laughing so hard, her face flushed and arms wrapped tightly around her sides as she squirmed from the after effects.

 

Laid right out in the palm of his hand, her shirt riding up enough to expose soft, peachy-

 

Sans frowned then, turning his eyes away as he lowered his hand to the ground while clearing his throat, “Alright, guess I’m done with goodie goodies like you, you’re free to go, but next time… No mercy. Got it, kiddo?”

 

Nodding, Frisk rolled off his hand with a little effort, still giggly as she got to her feet. She was even rubbing at her sides to banish the invisible fingers still plaguing her as she wandered off, leaving Sans to sigh. Back to wallowing in-

 

“Huh..?” Looking down, Frisk was back and tugging at his sleeve while pointing down, wanting him to come closer. “Yeah kid? Need someth-”

 

She hugged his face once it was close enough, humming happily before kissing his cheek then ran off again. This time leaving a blue in the face, frazzled, Sans.

 

“AW! I DON’T THINK I’VE EVER SEEN YOU FLUSTERED BEFORE SANS!” Papyrus called out, only to laugh as his brother threw his hood over his face and pulled the drawstrings tight. Hiding himself away in fluffiness.

 

\-----

 

By the time dinner time came and went the house was fixed, mostly. It was boarded up good enough to make the hole in the wall less noticeable and the door was firmly planted back in place, leaving only a few small cracks for the cold to come in. Thankfully a warm and cozy blanket solved that problem as Frisk and Papyrus sat beneath one while watching some TV before bed with the human leaning against his arm.

 

Sans, or at least blue clone Sans, was possibly still too flustered to come in, staying outside most of the day. Which was alright, he would come in when he wanted to, he was a big monster and made his own decisions. And speaking of decisions…

 

“Papy?”

 

“HM? YES FRISK? ARE YOU READY FOR BED NOW?”

 

“N-no, I… I want to go see Asgore tomorrow and break down the barrier.”

 

“B-BUT FRISK… Your soul…”

 

Frisk patted his arm, smiling up at the tall skeleton, “It’s alright. There’s another way to get rid of the barrier and it won’t involve any deaths.”

 

“R-really? You can do that?”

 

“Mhm, I’ve uh, done it many times before.”

 

“Wowie… And we all get to go out and see the sun?”

 

She nodded again, seeing the excited look on Papyrus’ face grow only for her to be quickly grabbed up into a tight hug. Almost squishing all the air out of her as she gasped before getting a lungful after he finished.

 

“That’s amazing!! If we head out tomorrow we should visit Undyne along the way, bring her along on our journey! I’m sure she’ll be thrilled! Oh! OH! WE SHOULD GO TELL SANS!”

 

“L-let’s tell him tomorrow, make it a surprise.”

 

“GOOD IDEA! I BET HE’LL BE SO EXCITED!”

 

\-----

 

“N-no…..thanks…” Sans gritted out, eyes hollow and empty while his smile looked more forced than usual. He even had a hand to his skull, trying his best to massage away a headache.

 

“BUT SAAAAANS! FRISK IS GOING TO BREAK THE BARRIER! I DON’T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS!”

 

“Oh, I know, I uh, just don’t feel like moving much today. It’s a long trip to the castle and all.”

 

“YOU LAZY BONES! THIS IS THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT TO HAPPEN AND YOU WANT TO STAY AT HOME!?”

 

Frisk frowned sadly up at Sans, watching him shrug while hiding his true reason behind his laziness.

 

“Yeah, well, don’t let this bag of bones slow you guys down. Besides, it wouldn’t be a very exciting trip for me anyways since I can’t fit through half the Underground anymore.”

 

Papyrus frowned with annoyance before placing a hand on his head, “ALRIGHT FINE, BUT ONCE THE BARRIER IS DOWN WE’RE COMING BACK TO GET YOU! ALRIGHT!?”

 

“Yeah, alright. I’ll… be here.”

 

Frisk stepped up then, arms out and up on her tippy toes for a hug. This getting a raised brow from Sans but complied anyways, leaning down to be level with her.

 

“Okay, one hug before you go. I’ll miss ya guys while you’re gone.” He chuckled though was surprise when Frisk hugged at his chest instead of his face like usual, shrugging it off as something new as she hugged him for a long minute before bouncing back over to Papyrus.

 

“WE’RE OFF… ARE YOU SURE YOU DON’T WANT TOO..?”

 

“Yeah I’m sure, you guys go have fun.”

 

“OKAY… WE’LL SEE YOU LATER SANS!” He and Frisk waved to Sans before holding hands and walking down the path towards Waterfall.

 

“Bye…”

 

Sans watched and waited until the two disappeared into the hazy, snow filled area down the way before getting up, tucking his hands into his pockets and going in the opposite direction. It was better this way, he convinced himself… There was no life for him aboveground, not like this. Not like some real monster.

 

He sighed, stopping right in front of the library as he reached up to clutch his chest. It would just be him and- Papyrus’ scarf?! Looking down, it wasn’t there, it wasn’t wrapped up nicely to his sternum. It was gone! Quickly he returned to the house to look about the snowy area, digging around in the leftover debris of the old shed. But didn’t find a single shred of red anywhere as he panicked.

 

Where was it!? How could he lose something so importa-

 

His eyes widened then, jerking his head towards the road to Waterfall with his cyan eye bursting to life. They were almost to the entrance, and in taking in Frisk’s silhouette it seemed as though she had grown a tail since leaving.

 

“FRISK!!” He yelled, loud enough to reach the two. But instead of stopping, the human child just seemed to run up ahead, dragging Papyrus along with her.

  
  
  


“ARE YOU SURE I DIDN’T JUST HEAR SANS CALL FOR YOU? AND WHY ARE WE RUNNING? I KNOW BREAKING THE BARRIER IS IMPORTANT AND EXCITING BUT IT’LL STILL BE A WHILE YET BEFORE WE GET THERE!”

 

Frisk continued to drag Papyrus along with a giggle, pulling him into the cave and towards the first guard booth of the area. Only then slowing down as she sighed with relief only to jump in surprise at a clearly angry cyan eye peering through the cave hole at them.

 

“Give it back kid…”

 

“OH! HELLO SANS! HAVE YOU DECIDED TO COME ALONG WITH US?”

 

“ **N o** … Frisk took something of mine and I would like. It. Back…”

 

“...FRISK? DID YOU TAKE SOMETHING OF MY BROTHER’S?”

 

Papyrus turned to Frisk, giving her a scolding look as she lifted up her shirt to pull out Sans’ scarf. A gasp leaving him as he gently took the item with a tsk.

 

“Frisk… This scarf is very important to Sans, you should not have taken it.”

 

“Thanks bro…” Sans sighed, reaching a hand in to get it back.

 

“But… If he wants it back, he can meet us at the barrier for it!”

 

“Paps!! Not you too!?”

 

“SORRY SANS! BUT IT’S FOR YOUR OWN LAZY GOOD! SEE YOU AT THE BARRIER!” Papyrus waved, handing the scarf back to Frisk for her to wrap around her neck to wear then taking up her hand again as they walked.

 

Leaving behind a very stunned Sans. His eyes quickly dimming as he shook with rage, pounding a fist into the ground to leave a nice fist sized crack as he got up. He was not leaving without his brother’s scarf…

 

Hotlands was the only area he could fit in after Waterfall, it was there that he would teleport to and wait the few hours for Papyrus and Frisk to come along.

 

\-----

 

“I still can’t believe this is happening!” Undyne hyped, fist pumping the air as they walked out of Waterfall and into Hotlands. “We’re finally getting out of here! You better not be yanking my chain PUNK!”

 

Frisk couldn’t help giggling, shaking her head. “I’m not.”

 

“GOOD! I’m so excited! Let’s go get Alphys! I’m sure she’ll want to see this! And- Uh, hey Papsie I thought you said your brother would be meeting us at the barrier?”

 

“HE IS!”   
  
“Well uh…” She pointed ahead to where Sans was sitting at the end of the bridge, blocking the road.

 

“Uh oh…” Frisk mumbled, squeezing Papyrus’ hand.

 

“DON’T WORRY, HE WOULDN’T DO ANYTHING SILLY! COME ON, LET’S GO GREET HIM!” Papyrus smiled brightly, walking across the bridge with a happy hum. “WHY HELLO SANS! NICE TO SEE YOU MAKING SOME PROGRESS!”

 

“Give me back my scarf…” Sans grumbled, hand held out expectantly.

 

“SANS! MANNERS PLEASE, UNDYNE HAS JOINED US. WON’T YOU AT LEAST SAY HELLO?!”

 

His eyes flickered to the fish lady, glaring at her as she glared back. “...Sup.”

 

“Tch, what’s this about a scarf?”

 

“OH, FRISK TOOK HIS SCARF AS BLACKMAIL MATERIAL TO GET HIM TO COME TO THE BARRIER WITH US!”

 

“No kiddin’? Not bad, kid. That’s using your human head.” Undyne laughed, scrubbing at Frisk’s hair roughly.

 

“Yeah yeah, just hand it over. I’m not moving until I get my scarf back…” Sans fingers twitched, annoyed.

 

Frisk slowly moved to take off the scarf, stalling as it was as she seemed to get caught up in it for a moment. All while Papyrus casually strolled up to Sans.

 

“IF YOU DON’T MIND, I WOULD LIKE TO GO RETRIEVE DOCTOR ALPHYS FROM HER LAB WHILE FRISK WORKS ON GETTING YOU YOUR SCARF.”

 

“Fine…” Sans moved to stand up, letting Papyrus stroll under him while he waited. Kneeling once his brother had gone by with his hand out again, impatiently waiting for his brother’s scarf. Which was reluctantly dropped into his hand. “Thank you… Now if you’ll excuse me, I-”

 

As he moved to stand up, he paused, brows furrowing and eyes narrowing at the scarf in his hand. Bringing it right up to his face to inspect. It was...too clean, meaning this was-

 

“PAPYRUS!!” He yelled, whipping his head around to catch his brother only for his jaw to drop.

 

“LOOKING FOR THIS!?” Papyrus called out from in front of the open elevator, lightly tugging at the worn scarf around his neck. “IF YOU WANT IT BACK, YOU’LL STILL HAVE TO MEET US AT THE BARRIER! NYEH HEH HEH!”

 

And just like that, he was in the elevator and heading up to the MTT Resort.

 

“Ohhhhhh! You got PUNKED!” Undyne cackled while Frisk covered her mouth with a hand to hide her amusement. It was funny but at the same time, it probably wasn’t the best idea to laugh at a monster likely six times your own height.

 

Sans expression saying that much as he turned his twitching, smiling face towards Undyne before dropping to one knee, nearly sending the two to the floor as a spidery crack splintered the ground beneath him. Silencing both quickly as he leaned in, giving back the scarf to Frisk and smiling all too widely at Undyne.  

 

“See you at the barrier…” He growled lowly to both of them before instantly vanishing.

 

Leaving Frisk and Undyne awkwardly standing in place, letting their racing hearts calm down. They turned to look at each other after a moment, faces flushed and confused but also relieved. The fish lady was the first to say something,

 

“Y-your face is red, punk.”

 

“So is yours…”

 

“It’s just hot here! I’m not used to the heat!!”

 

“Uh huh…”

 

“SHUT IT! Let’s just get Alphys and go meet up with Papyrus!”

 

“Okay.” Frisk giggled, folding up Papyrus’ scarf to carry rather than wear. “He is kind of hot… I mean it! It is kind of hot!!”


	12. Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to break down the barrier and be free of the Underground once and for all! 
> 
> At least that's the plan...

“You like him!”

 

“N-no…”

 

“Youuuuuu liiiiiiike hiiiiiim~!”

 

“Undyne!” Frisk whined, pouting as she was teased as they went up the elevator. No escape while Alphys nervously tried to interject. 

 

“U-Undyne, m-maybe you sh-shouldn’t tease…”

 

“It’s HILARIOUS though! Frisk is totally into Sans!”

 

“I don’t even know what that means!!”

 

“Frisk and Sans sitting in a tree~ K I S-”

 

“Alphys likes you!!”

 

Undyne quickly shut up then, mouth dropping as she turned to look at Alphys. The poor yellow dino lady turning beet red while staring wide eyed at Frisk then Undyne, shrinking away the best that she could as she smiled awkwardly. Nowhere to go, and Undyne was giving her a once over with a narrowed eye and slightly flushed cheeks.

 

“This true punk..?”

 

“W-w-w-well I… I… mean… I…” A light nudge from Frisk had Alphys spilling her guts in a blur of words then sobbing pathetically after as she covered her eyes with both of her hands. Scared and fearful of rejection only to feel her hands being pulled away, held in a scaley pair that had her looking up into Undyne’s toothy face.

 

“I like you too, punk!”

 

“R-r-r-really?”

 

“COURSE! Now get over here and hug me!” Undyne laughed, crushing Alphys into a bruising hug.

 

“S-sh-should we..” Still squished, she looked up at Undyne, “k-k-k-kiss..?”

 

“Oh, yeah t-totally!”

 

Frisk smiled softly as the two slowly leaned towards each other, both obviously nervous and worried as they drew closer and closer until- DING!

 

“HEY GUYS!” Papyrus chirped happily, only to stare at the three of them, “AM I INTERRUPTING?”

 

“Nope!” Undyne shouted loudly, both of them breaking away from each other. Faces pure red as they fixed up their clothing to seem busy.

 

“WELL COME ON THEN! WE’RE ALMOST AT THE BARRIER!” The tall skeleton waved them out, walking ahead towards the MTT Resort.

 

Giggling, Frisk skipped out of the elevator to follow Papyrus, leaving behind the two lovebirds to sort themselves out. Glad to have the subject of her liking Sans dropped in favour of bringing out true love,  the kind she might tease Undyne for later as payback.

  
  


Their journey continued on through the resort, taking the next two elevators up until they entered the Hall of Judgement. Still just as bright and golden as ever, even if it brought with it a small chill to run up Frisk’s spine as they walked down the long corridor. Heavily reminded of the darkness of such a bright room and Sans, who, for obvious reasons, didn’t show up halfway through. They would be meeting up with him soon enough though, it was almost time.

 

The throne room with its field of flowers coming into view with the great stature of Asgore carefully watering each one. So delicate in not crushing a single flower underfoot.

 

“AHEM.” Papyrus cleared his non existent throat, getting the King’s attention.

 

“Oh! Well hello, I wasn’t expecting guests to-” Asgore gave pause, taking in everyone to visit but then focusing on Frisk holding Papyrus’ hand. “Oh dear… Undyne? Have you brought the last human we need..?”

 

“Sorry Asgore, this punk here isn’t but she says she knows a way of opening up the barrier.”

 

“R-really? That’s… sort of a relief…” The king sighed, relieved by the news but at the same time doubtful. “Well then, shall we go see if the human…”

 

“FRISK!”

 

“See if Frisk can open the barrier then?”

 

Nodding, the group followed King Asgore through the door to the back of the castle, leading them to the door with a faint smile but he seemed to jump upon entering. Eyes turned way up as he held a hand to his breast plate.

 

“S-Sans!? Wha- How did you..?”

 

“Ignore me…” Sans mumbled, leaning up against the wall by the door with arms folded.

 

“B-but how did you get in here?”

 

“It’s not important, just let the kid do her thing.”

 

Frisk and Papyrus waved up at Sans as they walked in, smiling up at his grumpy face. He gave them an annoyed frown that turned up into a small smile as he waved back, not as upset at them as he had been before. The barrier room a great place to sit and chill apparently.

“You ready kid?”

 

“Mhm!” Frisk nodded, determination filling her as she walked deeper into the room. Ready to finish the nightmare for good.

 

“My child?”

 

She froze then, turning to the door to see Toriel hesitantly walking in. They locked eyes, her goat mom seeming to recognise her as she walked further in with tears in her eyes and arms open. There was no way she wouldn’t go back to embrace the other tight.

 

“Mom!”

 

“Oh my dear child! It is you! What has happened? You’ve grown so much…And your face.”

 

“I’m fine! And Sans helped me.”

 

“Sans?” Toriel asked curiously, to which Frisk happily pointed out the massive skeleton leaning against the wall. Much to his horror as he shook his head nervously only to groan at the surprised gasp from the boss monster.

 

“Heeeeey… Nice to meet you.”

 

“That voice..! Oh my… Is this why you stopped coming by the Ruins?” She gestured to his new form and obviously deeper voice. Though his pained expression didn’t go unnoticed as he glanced over to Papyrus who was sadly looking down at the floor, both skeletons mournful.

 

“It’s… A long story, I’ll tell it to you later though. Right now Frisk is going to attempt to break the barrier.”

 

“Yeah! You should stick around Mom, then we can all go outside. Together.”

 

“Alright, if you think you can do it then I believe in you.” Toriel smiled, letting go of Frisk to let her do her own thing. “But I’ll stand over here, away from miserable creatures…”

 

Asgore flinched then to Toriel’s heated glare, turning his head down as he pouted, “B-but Tori…”

 

“Don’t you ‘Tori’ me, stay over there.”

 

“Y-yes ma’am…”

 

“Ooooo, hey Asgore, isn’t that your ex?” Undyne asked, getting a devastated look from the King, “Whoops, sorry about your luck…”

 

While Undyne and Alphys comforted the distraught goatman, Toriel moved to stand by Papyrus and Sans with a soft smile, getting a fond greeting from the costumed skeleton. Sans let his brother do all the talking as he watched Frisk go back to her original place, though seemed to look about the room for something. Odd, then again as memory served. It was a certain yellow flower to come by and wrap them all up. The thought of it making him antsy as he tapped his finger against his arm. Only to go rigid.

 

“FRISK? IS SOMETHING WRONG? THE BARRIER IS STILL UP.”

 

Frisk made a confused face, scratching her head as she shrugged her shoulders but continued to look around. Flowey was normally here by now… Was their discussion not long enough for him to get the other souls?

 

“OH SANS! ARE YOU GOING TO GO HELP?”

 

She perked up then, turning to see Sans take a couple steps forward. His movement awkward and almost mechanical as he stopped in front of her, arms shaking and… Was his left eye yellow?

 

“Kid, move!!” Sans ground out while lifting up a foot, then bringing it down on top of her. Or would have if it didn’t change course at the last possible second, knocking the kid back with the force of it as she tumbled across the floor.

 

“SANS!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? THAT IS NOT HELPING!!”

 

“I… I d-don’t know..!” He grit out while awkwardly turning to the group.

 

“HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW!? YOU ALMOST STEPPED ON FRISK!!”

 

“Oh, I can answer that!” A bubbly voice called out of nowhere, turning the stunned group to confusion as they looked about the area for the voice. “Up here! At the massive idiot!”

 

All eyes turned to Sans then, still confused until they caught sight of something yellow peering out from his left eye socket and waving back and forth at them with a charming little smile. Even while Sans entire frame shook.

 

“Howdy all!”

 

“THERE’S A FLOWER IN YOUR EYE SANS!!”

 

“I k-know..!”

 

“Aw don’t get too testy with your quote-unquote brother, Sansy-boy! He’s just pointing out the blatantly obvious, you can’t blame him for being so simple minded.”

 

Sans growled deeply then, the sound reverberating from his chest and off of each of his ribs menacingly.

 

“Oooo, I felt that!”

 

“What are you doing in his skull PUNK!?”

 

“Oh, that’s easy! This timeline has been changed so drastically, I figured I’d get in on some of that action by taking over this stupid idiot’s body!” Sans gasped then as the vines wrapped all along his bones squeezed tight, made visible now of their thorny appearance looping inside his ribs and down his legs. “Nice right? The most powerful being in all of the Underground under my control.”

 

“YOU LET MY BROTHER GO!!”

 

“Or what? You’ll tell me that I could do a little better in being good? Or that you ‘believe in me’? Hah! Like hell I’m letting go of all this power!!” Flowey laughed manically, getting five eyes glaring up at him.

 

“Alyphs…” Undyne growled, summoning up a spear, “Go help Toriel with Frisk. We’ve got it.”

 

We being Papyrus and King Asgore, all three of their souls rose from their chests as they summoned up their weapons of choice. Ready and willing to fight.

 

“O-o-okay!” Alphys squeaked.

 

“What’s this now? Are you all really so stupid to throw away your lives for this piece of- AHH!”

 

“Enough talk…” Papyrus frowned, summoning up a new bone having thrown the other one at Flowey and smacking him right in the face. “Release my brother now or suffer the consequences!”

 

“Y-you fools! DIIEEEE!!”

 

\-----

 

“Oh my sweet child… please, please be alright.” Toriel murmured softly, cradling Frisk in her arms as she used her healing magic. A sigh of relief soon following as the child slowly opened her eyes.

 

“F-Frisk!” Alphys cheered, sitting awkwardly to the side.

 

“M-mom? Alphys? W-what… What happened?”

 

“Flowey’s taken con-control of Sans’ body!”

 

“What?! Whoaa...”

 

“Please, don’t sit up too quickly! You’re injured.” Toriel chided as she caught Frisk before she fell over..

 

“It- It’s my fault… This is my fault, if I… If I hadn’t c-c-created F-Flowey…” Alphys eyes watered, hands balled up tightly in frustration. “Th-this wo-”

 

“It’s not your fault Alphys!” Frisk interrupted, “You may have created him but you’re not the one telling him to do this… He’s doing this on his own, and we have to stop him!”

 

“No! I forbid you from fighting th-that miserable creature! You’re already hurt! I can’t willingly sit by and let you be injured further!”

 

“Mom...” Frisk reached up, smiling softly as she cupped the boss monster’s cheek, “I have to. He’s done so much for me, he’s saved me and now… I have to go save him. Please…”

 

“M-my sweet child, you really have grown up…” Engulfing Frisk into a tight embrace, Toriel let up to smile proudly down at her. “Alright, but don’t think I won’t be helping as well.”

 

“Haha alright! Uh… Alphys, are you okay?”

 

Alphys wiggling in her spot, eyes starry and hands clasped together in front of her chest. “This is like one of my animes!” she squealed, getting a laugh from Frisk.

 

\-----

 

Undyne grunted as she hit the ground hard, backhanded off by Sans when she tried to scale his form to get to the flower. “Papyrus! How are we supposed to get him without hurting your brother!? He keeps countering everything we have and every time we cut down a vine a new one grows in its place!!”

 

“I- I don’t know! But please don’t hurt him!”

 

“Don’t hurt him!? He has more health than everyone in this room combined!!”

 

“Look out!!” Papyrus shouted as he tackled Undyne out of the way of a massive vine ladened fist that went right into the floor.

 

“That’s it! Bicker amongst yourselves! It’ll make it so much easier to destroy you all!” Flowey cackled darkly, taking another swipe at the two for good measure. Only to have another bone smash into his face. “AUGH! Enough of this!!”

 

Forcing Sans to tower above the three, he made the skeleton hold out his left hand. A sinister smile growing on the flower’s face. “D I E ! ! !”

 

The three braced for an attack, ready to dodge or block but nothing came. The room falling silent as Flowey’s eyes narrowed.

 

“Gaster Blaster!” Nothing. “Bone attack!!” Still nothing. “Telekinesis!?!”

 

But nothing happened.

 

“What the hell!?” He shrieked, stopping only when he could hear deep chuckles all around him.

 

“What’s wrong, pal? Got all the power in the Underground and can’t even use it?” Sans taunted.

 

“You! What have you done?!”

 

“I haven’t done anything, in fact it’s kind of nice not having to move on my own. Less effort on my part though it’s been a pain trying to pull all the punches you keep throwing at my friends.”

 

“How dare you! I have full control of your body! Struggle all you want, I own you and your powers!!”

 

“Now… That’s where you’re wrong, all you have control over is my movements, which is starting to get annoying…” Sans growled, the violent shaking in his arms and body attributed to him struggling to break free.

 

“I’ll show you what’s annoying!” Without warning Asgore, Papyrus and Undyne were swiftly kicked across the room in one go, “YOUR FRIENDS!”

 

“U-Undyne!” Alphys squeaked out.

 

“Papyrus!”

 

“...” Toriel glowered at the felled King, moving to heal Undyne first while Frisk went to Papyrus.

 

“Ow… Oh, Frisk, you’re okay!” Papyrus smiled, battered and bruised but still in high hopes. “We need to help Sans!”

 

“I know… We need to stop Flowey.”

 

“My petals are burning~! Oh Frisk! You’re just the human I wanted to see! Glad to see you’re still alive, because I’m not done with you...”

 

Frisk leapt to her feet then, turning to face off with Flowey, her red soul hovering out. Go time as she ran at him, ducking out of the way of a skeletal hand reaching for her. Good thing she’s played this game before, avoiding each and every attempt at her while buying time until her friends were healed up.

 

“Hold still!!” Flowey shouted, missing once again as she ducked around behind him. “You little-!”

 

The thorny vines around Sans cinched up tighter, stabbing into his bones and drawing out a sharp cry from him. A small chunk of his life draining but also getting the desired effect.

 

“Sans!” Frisk called out to her friend, stalling in her motions and missing the hand to come up on her side.

 

“Gotcha!”

 

“FRISK!” Her friends and family called out to her, rushing to get up to help only to stop as she was squeezed tight, pitching out a high cry. It wasn’t even from Sans hand squeezing but vines wrapping around her to keep her in place.

 

“I wouldn’t try anything if I were any of you!” Flowey threatened, squeezing his hostage for good measure, “In fact, you all don’t even have to be here! My quarrel is with these two… So go on, get out of here!”

 

No one moved, standing tense and ready to continue fighting.

 

“No? My my, I’ll deal with the rest of you later but not before witnessing this horrid human’s death first!!” He chortled, bringing Frisk in close enough to see face to face. Lowering his voice. “You know what you did… You took my Chara away from me… Both of you! And I won’t stand for it any longer, so why not end it the way you ended her?”

 

Frisk’s eyes widened as she was lifted higher up, kicking her legs uselessly for freedom as Flowey laughed. Her eyes meeting Sans own panicked dot of light.

 

“Come on Sansy~ Open wide, devour her whole like you did with Chara! It’ll be poetic justice!”

 

Two thick vines forced their way from the inside between Sans teeth, slowly wrenching his fang filled jaw open wide. Much to the horror of the crowd below.

 

“Hey, why don’t you summon up that tongue she loves so much too! Look! She’s ready shaking with excitement!” Sans one eye darkened then, his jaw going lax much to Flowey’s amusement. “Oh? Have you given in? Just going to be the terrible MONSTER that you are and. Let. It. Happen!?”

 

“S-Sans?” Frisk called out, rocking back and forth slightly in the air. Her large eyes watery and scared.

 

“No complaints here! So let the show go- What the!? I can’t see!”  

 

Snapping the eye Flowey currently was perched in closed, Sans bit down hard on the vines in his mouth until they were severed in half, getting a muffled howl of pain from within his skull as the other vines around him writhed in pain.. The ones around Frisk loosening up and dropping her but not far as he opened his eye back up, flashing cyan and catching her with his magic. And with no time to lose as he floated her right up and into his other eye socket with a shiver.

 

Frisk was now on equal grounds with Flowey inside of Sans skull.

 

“So you think you’re clever do you!?” Flowey hissed, glaring down Frisk from his side of the rather spacious area. Frisk’s eyes darting around in confusion. “Yeah, I was confused about the size of this place too… But enough about that!! DIE!”

 

White ‘friendship bullets’ were hurled at Frisk in waves, each one dodged and avoided to the best of her ability in such a limited area. Fighting to get in any action she could to beg Flowey to release Sans and stop all of this. End the violence.

 

“Oh I’ll stop! When you and all of your friends are dead! Then I’ll kill the rest of them and it’ll all be over, just like Chara wanted!”

 

“Y-you’re crazy!”

 

“Insane, actually! And with reset all gone, this will be the end! The end of the world!! Hahahaha!”

 

Advancing closer and closer with each dodged wave, Frisk puffed up her chest as she frowned at Flowey, deciding now that ACTing would be useless and did the thing she probably should have done a long time ago! She slapped Flowey across the face.

 

“Enough! No more! Bad flower!” She scolded. “Chara got what she deserved! She made us all suffer, even you! There’s no reason for this!”

 

Flowey was taken aback, mouth open and a bright red mark on his face as he leaned away from Frisk. The once human child so much bigger now, more imposing to his smaller frame.

 

“Oh gee golly… I- I’m sorry…” He mumbled, looking away.

 

“No you’re not…”

 

“You’re right… But something else has come to me!” Smiling a little too widely, his petals began to glow in random intervals around his face, blinking on and off as a loud pained grunt rumbled around them. “Sans magic!!”

 

The white flashes of light blinking around Flowey’s head like a light show seemed to come to full bloom as each petal buzzed with intense magic, crackling to life and sending electricity into the air. It was all so strange yet vaguely familiar to Frisk as she took a few steps back, only to gasp as the vengeful flower ducked down into the ground and came up at her side.

 

“D I E !”

 

Sans head suddenly jerked to the side, sending her sprawling to the bony floor right before the laser Flowey was charging up fired. Right through his skull.

 

Frisk stayed down until the attack ended, slowly rolling over only to cry out in alarm. Throwing a hand up to her mouth, she felt incredibly sick to her stomach at the carnage laid out before her.  The stuttered breathing around her the only hint to Sans pain along with a few faint tremors.

 

Half of his face was gone, vapourized. His right eye nonexistent to the jagged gaping hole left behind, which let in so much more light to the two eye holes from before.

 

“Whoooops! Looks like I missed!” Flowey cackled darkly taking in the damage he had caused proudly, “Aw, sorry Sansy! Did that hurt? Looks like that hurt, a lot!”

 

Filled with more than just determination, Frisk all but launched herself at the flower to grab him by the stem and decked him across the face hard enough for pollen to come poofing out. “You miserable monster!!”

 

She laid into him for as hard as she could for as long as should could before being thrown back, nearly falling right out of Sans skull through the massive hole. Though her concerns were more on the flower glowing with power.

 

“AUGH! Both of you! You’ve both been a thorn in my side for- Stop laughing! That wasn’t a joke!!” Flowey snarled, constricting Sans up tighter, “And it’s obvious now on who needs to die first! Right Sansy!?”

 

Sans growled as his hand was forced to reach up to his chest, pulling out his broken soul into the open then closing around it.

 

“And what better way than by your own hand!!”

 

“You get a hard-on or something for ironic deaths?” Sans mocked weakly.

 

“SHUT UP!!”

 

Sans visibly injured health dropped down to half like nothing as Flowey forced him to squeeze, getting his first real pained howl out of the massive skeleton. Releasing only when the physical form around them wavered and the sweet cries of those below called out to Sans.

 

“I still can’t believe you fools would still want to save this… THING!”

 

“YOU LEAVE MY BROTHER ALONE!!”

 

“Stop playing pretend! Your brother is dead, gone! And who knows! Maybe he’s inside of this one!! Oh, oops! Was that supposed to be a secret? Oh well, doesn’t matter now! So let’s spill the beans, right Sansy!? Why don’t you tell them all about how you got this abomination of a form, huh? HUH?!” Flowey grinned, “I’ll tell them!”

 

“N-nooo…”

 

“Yesss! You all listening? GOOD! Because this Sans, this Ultra Sans, you see before you is made up of the dust of every other timeline of Sans in existence! Selfishly consumed to gain unbound power and magic! And in doing so he took your Sans from you to gain this power!”

 

“N-NO… YOU’RE- YOU’RE LYING! SANS WOULD NEVER DO THAT! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!”

 

“Was it really!? Think about it, did you really have it in you to hit your brother that hard..?”

 

“N-no, I… I...” Papyrus brought his hands up to his head, falling to his knees as he shook. Doubt filling his mind.

 

“And let’s not forget when he tried to oust Frisk the moment he invaded this world, right?! Right when she left the ruins too! So hell bent on power, he almost had more by swallowing the human whole. Imagine the monster that would have come out of that!”

 

Toriel’s hands shot up to her mouth then, eyes wide with shock and anger. Betrayed.

 

“ And what about you fish lady? You wanted him gone the moment you laid your beady little eye on his horrendous form… Don’t you still feel the same?”

 

Undyne turned her head away, teeth grit tight as she balled her hands into tight fists. But didn’t say anything against it.

 

“So it’s agreed then! I’ll be more than happy to take out the trash!!”

 

Sans’ hand squeezed again, taking another huge chunk out of his life but his arm slowly began to stop shaking. His whole frame following suit.

 

“Oh? What’s this? He’s not even trying to stop me anymore, like he’s given up!!” Flowey gloated, “Ugh… Gross, he’s leaking out of his eye…”

 

“Sans, no!! You can’t give up!!” Frisk cried out, tears coming to her eyes as he gave no response. Just allowing Flowey to squeeze his hand around his own soul until he had less than a quarter of his life left, his form visibly growing unstable as it continued to drop. “Stop it Flowey!!”

 

“Why? He knows he’s worthless, I’m just doing what he couldn’t do!”

 

Desperate, Frisk looked around for something, anything, to save Sans with. But there was nothing... It would seem all hope was lost as Sans lifeforce ticked down until something in the darkest depths of his skull glimmered in the open light. With nothing left to lose, she went for it, running up and dislodging the object lodged into the bone wall.

 

Chara’s knife. After all this time, it was still in Sans skull…

 

Her heart raced as she looked between the bloody knife and Flowey’s sinister face, time was running out and she had to make a decision. Now or never…

  
  


“Huh..? F-Frisk? Wh-wh-what are you doing with that knife?! Frisk!? FRISK!!”

  
  


Sans’ hand dropped listlessly from his soul, the vines around him growing limp before shrivelling up and dying. He wasn’t ready to be back in control of his own body, suddenly dropping to his knees before catching himself from falling face first into the ground as he held himself up on shaking arms. His health had stopped at one as he panted and gasped for breath, pushing his soul back into his chest before shakily bringing a hand up to cover his broken face.

 

A plume of golden pollen drifted out of his eye and new opening then, followed by Frisk covered in the stuff, coughing as she landed in his hand with an omph. She threw the blood and pollen covered knife away then, curling up on his side as she convulsed and cried into her own hands.

 

This was the first life she had ever taken…

 

“J-just let it out kid… Just… Let it all out…” Sans murmured softly, resting his forehead on his wrist as his own cyan tears began to flow out of his one good eye. Dripping down his arm and darkening the sleeve of his hoodie.

 

The moment didn’t last long as he glanced up, staring at the group staring back at him with varying degrees of emotions on each of their faces. Ranging from anger to nervous to not even looking at him at all.

 

He lowered his hand to the ground then, offering Frisk back only to sigh when she bolted upright and latched onto his thumb. Still heaving and sobbing against him. “Time to go kid…”

 

“N-nnnn-nooo…” She whined, holding on tighter.

 

“You’ve got to let go Frisk. Let go of me…”

 

“NO!”

 

“My child, please, come to me. Leave that mi-”

 

“Don’t say it! He’s not a miserable creature! He’s not an abomination! He’s not stupid! He’s not anything but Sans!” Frisk cried out.

 

“Kid, go to your mom.”

 

“No! I won’t! If I leave you now you’re dead!”

 

“I’m already dead kid…” Sans replied back, exhaustion filling his voice, “Flowey wasn’t lying about me being made up of the dust of other Sans’. The only thing keeping me alive is a lot of magic and this broken old soul, there’s no reason for me to be around anymore and with only one tick of life left… I wouldn’t stop any of them from trying.”

 

“No!! I- I won’t let that happen I-”

 

“Frisk…” Biting her lip, Frisk held in the sob trying to escape her throat only to fail miserably when it hitched loudly before leaning her forehead against his thumb. A few fingers from Sans other hand gently rubbed her back as he continued, “It’s game over for me. Go back to your friends and family.”

 

She shook her head, just as determined, and stubborn, as ever to stay. The sound of footsteps coming towards them had Sans attention turning up, good eye widening for a split second before fading to black.

 

“Papyrus…”

 

“Sans.” Papyrus quietly murmured, walking right up to Sans’ hand.

 

A soft smiling coming to the lanky skeleton’s face as he ruffled up Frisk’s hair then turned his attention up to his brother, looking him over. His eyes lingered on the damage more than anything, he took a few more steps forward to reach out to the cracked outer edge, running along the jagged bone. He pulled away once the damage reached Sans’ smile, cutting into the corner of it as he used his other hand to pull off the scarf around his neck. And without a word, he slipped under the other to tie it back in place to Sans’ sternum into an even bigger bow than what Frisk had made for him.

 

“...Accidents happen.” Papyrus finally said, walking out from under Sans to stand beside Frisk, “And I’ve accepted that truth for myself.”

 

“B-bro..”

 

“I’m also not letting my new brother turn to dust.”

 

Sans breath hitched then, shoulders shaking as Papyrus joined Frisk in hugging to his thumb. Neither of them willing to let him go. Not even when another set of booted feet came clomping up to them.

 

“Undyne?” Papyrus spoke up, getting Sans attention.

 

The fish woman glared up at him, arms folded and lips pulled back over her sharp teeth. Imposing compared to Alphys hiding behind her, peeking out to look at the three with a nervous smile.

 

“...Guess we’re on even ground now for… Eyeing each other up, heh…” Sans joked weakly, getting an eye roll from Undyne as she unfolded her arms.

 

“That flower punk wasn’t wrong about me wanting to off you the moment I saw you…” She pointed a finger at Sans, sneering for a moment before dropping her aggression, “But just like Frisk… We must have bonded or something, so… you’re lucky I don’t DESTROY friends!”

 

Undyne kicked at the ground then, disappointed in herself but in seeing Frisk and Papyrus beckoning her over. She smiled, walking up to the two and joining in the hug.

 

Which left the little yellow dino lady to awkwardly scrub her hands nervously. She didn’t have any bonding experience with Sans or even so much as met him until now, mostly seeing him on her monitors and hearing about him from Undyne. There was no negativity between them like Toriel, who was still fairly cross with the massive skeleton and even hissed at Asgore when he tried to console her. Getting shot down once again.

 

Though as she watched on with a faint smile, Alphs noticed something that quickly had her choking on her words as she waved her arms about to get everyone’s attention. “G-gu-guys! Th-The barrier! It’s g-g-gone!”

 

A chorus of confused ‘what’s’ and ‘huh’s’ filled the room as the group looked around, the pulsing white barrier was gone and a warm light was beginning to flood into the long room. Bringing with it excitement as Papyrus gasped with glee,

 

“LET’S GO OUTSIDE!!”

 

“Yeah! C’mon Alphys!”

 

The two cheered, racing each other outside and were tailed by Alphys calling for them to wait up. King Asgore soon followed at his own sedated pace, while Toriel, though happy, continued to glower up at Sans.

 

“Go ahead Mom, I’ll meet you outside.” Frisk smiled, rubbing her nose on her sleeve.

 

“Alright my child, but do not be long.”

 

“I won’t.” She smiled, watching Toriel go before looking up at Sans, “Ready to go see the sun for the four hundred and something odd time?”

 

“Yeah, but you go on ahead. Think I’m gonna rest here for a bit.”

 

“...You’re still going to run away?”

 

“What? No! Kid, I literally have been through hell… I have one health left, and-”

 

“Sans…” Frisk frowned at him, getting a guilty look from the skeleton.

 

“Okay… Yes, I was, but you’ve gotta understand kiddo. I’ve got no place in the outside world, any human to look at me and they’ll be trying to put us all back down here with not only a barrier but a barrier and a rock. That’s just how scary I look. Probably made worse now…”

 

“You’re not that scary, you don’t even have your shoulder spikes anymore.”

 

“I- What? When did that…” Sans reached over his shoulders to feel for the protrusions, finding nothing but holes now.

 

“When we were all hugging, it was like… You were happy or something. I mean, you’re still smiling.”

 

“I am...actually.”

 

“See? That just means you should come with us!” Frisk insisted, getting off his hand to tug at it instead.“We’ll just figure out all the other stuff later! Please?”

 

“Alright... twist my arm why don’t ya?” Sans chuckled, scooping Frisk up as he moved to stand while placing her on his shoulder. A hand going to his lower back as he achingly walked out, “Ugh… I’m going to have to sleep for weeks to get all this health back…”

 

“Yay!”

 

“Heh… Figured you’d like that...”

  
The end.


	13. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a short blip of life on the surface.

It was later figured out by Doctor Alphys that the laser Flowey had fired through Sans’ skull was what had broken down the barrier. A fortunate and unfortunate event. Though everyone was free to enjoy their first breath of fresh air and even the warm sun but at the cost of irreparable damage to Sans’ face. Try as Papyrus might, not even his healing magic could grow back bone, and Toriel was more than out of the question to even ask. Broken promises and all...

 

It didn’t seem to bother the massive skeleton much, on the outside, but neither Frisk or Papyrus really wanted to bring up the subject. So they let him be, most of the time.

 

And not too far off from Mount Ebbot was a quaint little town for the monsters to move into, after a nice long sit down with the Mayor to show that they meant no harm and only wished to live about the rest of their lives peacefully. Frisk and Toriel moved into a little house with a forest at their backyard and their next door neighbours, unsurprisingly, being Papyrus and Sans. Their house somehow ‘magically’(Sans) brought up from the underground and planted on an empty plot of land. Thank goodness the gold they used as currency down below was actually worth something aboveground, a lot in fact. Enough for Papyrus to own his own fancy little car.

 

Sadly Sans was still too convinced that he was too scary for society, even more so now with his face half destroyed, and stayed out far back in the woods behind his house, mostly using his clone to do anything involving interactions. Not that humans would know the difference anyways with all the new monsters running about. Or that a certain human didn’t often come by to visit him now and then to keep him company.

 

One that he had grown rather fond of…


End file.
